Fitness monitoring methods, systems, and program products, and applications thereof

ABSTRACT

Fitness monitoring methods, systems, and program products are disclosed. In an embodiment, a computer-implemented method for providing a new workout for an athlete utilizing a fitness monitoring service includes the steps of granting an athlete access to an account of the fitness monitoring service, maintaining a schedule of workouts for the athlete to complete in association with the account, receiving the new workout from a coach, adding the new workout to the schedule of workouts, and exchanging information related to the new workout with a portable fitness monitoring device.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

The present application is a continuation of U.S. patent applicationSer. No. 12/836,421, filed Jul. 14, 2010, which is incorporated hereinby reference.

This application is also related to commonly owned U.S. patentapplication Ser. No. 12/836,416, filed Jul. 14, 2010, and commonly ownedU.S. patent application Ser. No. 12/836,401, filed Jul. 14, 2010, eachof which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention generally relates to fitness monitoring. Moreparticularly, the present invention relates to fitness monitoringmethods, systems, and program products, and applications thereof.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Exercise is important to maintaining a healthy lifestyle and individualwell-being. Accordingly, many individuals want to participate in anexercise program. The most successful exercise programs are onestailored to a fitness level of an individual and aimed at assisting theindividual to achieve one or more specific fitness or exercise goals.

Sports trainers, as well as other exercise and fitness professionals,are available to assist individuals in developing exercise programsappropriate for their individual fitness levels and their specificfitness or exercise goals. Hiring such professionals, however, can beexpensive. Furthermore, the busy schedules of many individuals make itdifficult for these individuals to set aside time to meet with anexercise and fitness professional on a routine basis. Thus, manyindividuals forego using the services of exercise and fitnessprofessionals, and they never achieve the benefits that can be obtainedfrom an exercise program tailored, for example, to one's fitness level.

Technology has resulted in the development of portable devices that arecapable of monitoring the performance of an individual supporting aportable device during a workout. These portable fitness monitoringdevices may transmit and receive a variety of information to and fromremote server computers via networks in order to assist the individualin their fitness or exercise goals.

Satellite navigation systems, such as the GPS, GLONASS, and Galileosystems, allow a device having a suitable receiver to determine thedevice's geographical location within a few meters, using time signalstransmitted by radio from satellites. Portable devices includingsatellite navigation system receivers may use this information tomeasure or calculate the location, distance traveled, and/or speed ofthe portable device as it moves.

What is needed are improved fitness monitoring methods, systems, andprogram products that will allow individuals, among other things, tobetter use data generated from past performances to gauge theirimprovement, to set goals for the future, to share their performancedata with others, to stay motivated, and/or to enable them to exerciseat frequencies and intensities that are appropriate for their currentfitness level and goals.

BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to a computer-implemented method forproviding a new workout for an athlete utilizing a fitness monitoringservice, the method including the steps of granting an athlete access toan account of the fitness monitoring service, maintaining a schedule ofworkouts for the athlete to complete in association with the account,receiving the new workout from a coach, adding the new workout to theschedule of workouts, and exchanging information related to the newworkout with a portable fitness monitoring device.

The present invention may also relate to a method for generating aworkout routine, the method including the steps of receiving personalinformation associated with an athlete from a portable fitnessmonitoring device, receiving performance information associated with theathlete from the portable fitness monitoring device, generating aworkout routine based on the personal information and the performanceinformation, and sending the workout routine to the portable fitnessmonitoring device, wherein each of the steps are executed using at leastone processor.

The present invention may further relate to a system for generatingworkout routine, the system including a network, a portable fitnessmonitoring device, wherein the portable fitness monitoring device isadapted to transmit personal information associated with an athlete andperformance information associated with the athlete via the network, anda server, wherein the server is adapted to receive the personalinformation associated with an athlete and the performance informationassociated with the athlete via the network, wherein the server isadapted to generate a workout routine based on the personal informationand the performance information, wherein the server is adapted totransmit the workout routine to the portable fitness monitoring devicevia the network, and wherein the portable fitness monitoring device isadapted to receive the workout routine.

Further aspects, features, and advantages of the present invention, aswell as the structure and operation of the various embodiments of thepresent invention, are described in detail below with reference to theaccompanying drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS/FIGURES

The accompanying drawings, which are incorporated herein and form a partof the specification, illustrate the present invention by way ofexample, and not by way of limitation, and, together with thedescription, further serve to explain the principles of the inventionand to enable a person skilled in the pertinent art to make and use theinvention.

FIG. 1 is an illustration of an athlete engaged in an activity accordingto an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an illustration of an athlete engaged in an activity accordingto an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram of components of a portable fitness monitoringdevice according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram of components of a portable fitness monitoringdevice according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is an illustration of a portable fitness monitoring devicecommunicating with a server according to an embodiment of the presentinvention.

FIG. 6 is an illustration of a portable fitness monitoring devicecommunicating with a server according to an embodiment of the presentinvention.

FIG. 7 is an illustration of one athlete's portable fitness monitoringdevice communicating with another athlete's portable fitness monitoringdevice according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 8 is a block diagram of an exemplary software configuration of aserver according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 9 is an exemplary graphical user interface (GUI) window accordingto an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 10 is a table that illustrates heart rate zone ranges according toan embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 11 is a table that illustrates pace zone ranges according to anembodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 12 is an exemplary GUI window according to an embodiment of thepresent invention.

FIG. 13 is an exemplary GUI window according to an embodiment of thepresent invention.

FIG. 14 is an exemplary GUI window according to an embodiment of thepresent invention.

FIG. 15 is an exemplary GUI window according to an embodiment of thepresent invention.

FIG. 16 is an exemplary GUI window according to an embodiment of thepresent invention.

FIG. 17 is an exemplary GUI window according to an embodiment of thepresent invention.

FIG. 18 is an exemplary GUI window according to an embodiment of thepresent invention.

FIG. 19 is an exemplary GUI window according to an embodiment of thepresent invention.

FIG. 20 is an illustration of a portable fitness monitoring deviceaccording to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 21 is a block diagram of an exemplary software configuration of aportable fitness monitoring device according to an embodiment of thepresent invention.

FIGS. 22A and 22B are exemplary GUI windows according to an embodimentof the present invention.

FIG. 23 is a flow chart outlining actions capable of being initiated bysoftware according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIGS. 24A-24D are exemplary GUI windows according to an embodiment ofthe present invention.

FIGS. 25A-25D are exemplary GUI windows according to an embodiment ofthe present invention.

FIG. 26 is a flow chart outlining actions capable of being initiated bysoftware according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 27 is an exemplary GUI window according to an embodiment of thepresent invention.

FIGS. 28A and 28B are exemplary GUI windows according to an embodimentof the present invention.

FIGS. 29A-29C are exemplary GUI windows according to an embodiment ofthe present invention.

FIGS. 30A-30D are exemplary GUI windows according to an embodiment ofthe present invention.

FIGS. 31A and 31B are exemplary GUI windows according to an embodimentof the present invention.

FIGS. 32A and 32B are exemplary GUI windows according to an embodimentof the present invention.

FIGS. 33A-33D are exemplary GUI windows according to an embodiment ofthe present invention.

FIGS. 34A and 34B are exemplary GUI windows according to an embodimentof the present invention.

FIG. 35 is a flow chart outlining actions capable of being initiated bysoftware according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 36 is an exemplary GUI window according to an embodiment of thepresent invention.

FIG. 37 is an exemplary GUI window according to an embodiment of thepresent invention.

FIG. 38 is an exemplary GUI window according to an embodiment of thepresent invention.

FIG. 39 is an exemplary GUI window according to an embodiment of thepresent invention.

FIG. 40 is an exemplary GUI window according to an embodiment of thepresent invention.

FIGS. 41A and 41B are exemplary GUI windows according to an embodimentof the present invention.

FIGS. 42A and 42B are exemplary GUI windows according to an embodimentof the present invention.

FIGS. 43A-43C are exemplary GUI windows according to an embodiment ofthe present invention.

FIG. 44 is an exemplary GUI window according to an embodiment of thepresent invention.

FIG. 45 is an exemplary GUI window according to an embodiment of thepresent invention.

FIG. 46 is an exemplary GUI window according to an embodiment of thepresent invention.

FIGS. 47A and 47B are exemplary GUI windows according to an embodimentof the present invention.

FIG. 48 is an exemplary GUI window according to an embodiment of thepresent invention.

FIG. 49 is an exemplary GUI window according to an embodiment of thepresent invention.

FIGS. 50A and 50B are exemplary GUI windows according to an embodimentof the present invention.

FIG. 51 is an exemplary GUI window according to an embodiment of thepresent invention.

FIG. 52 is a flow chart outlining actions capable of being initiated bysoftware according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 53 is a flow chart outlining actions capable of being initiated bysoftware according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 54 is a flow chart outlining actions capable of being initiated bysoftware according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 55 is an exemplary GUI window according to an embodiment of thepresent invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

The present invention will now be described in detail with reference toembodiments thereof as illustrated in the accompanying drawings.References to “one embodiment”, “an embodiment”, “an exampleembodiment”, etc., indicate that the embodiment described may include aparticular feature, structure, or characteristic, but every embodimentmay not necessarily include the particular feature, structure, orcharacteristic. Moreover, such phrases are not necessarily referring tothe same embodiment. Further, when a particular feature, structure, orcharacteristic is described in connection with an embodiment, it issubmitted that it is within the knowledge of one skilled in the art toaffect such feature, structure, or characteristic in connection withother embodiments whether or not explicitly described.

To assist the reader, the Detailed Description has been broken intovarious subsections, as follows: A. General Description of Features ofthe Methods, Systems, and Program Products; B. Portable FitnessMonitoring Devices and Server Systems; C. Exemplary Pre-Activity DataProcessing and Feedback Aspects; D. Exemplary Data Processing andFeedback Aspects During an Activity; E. Exemplary Post-Activity DataProcessing and Feedback Aspects; F. Other Features; and G. Conclusion.

A. GENERAL DESCRIPTION OF FEATURES OF THE METHODS, SYSTEMS, AND PROGRAMPRODUCTS

In general, the methods, systems, and program products of the presentinvention may be used to provide fitness monitoring services toathletes. In at least some embodiments of the present invention, aportable fitness monitoring device and a computer server system mayinteract with one another to provide the fitness monitoring services.

In one embodiment, the athlete may utilize the portable fitnessmonitoring device during a physical activity. In another embodiment, theathlete may interact with the computer server system before, during,and/or after the physical activity.

The portable fitness monitoring device may be adapted to measure variousperformance parameters associated with the athlete's physicalactivities, to provide feedback to the athlete during the activities, tosend information to the server system, and/or to receive informationfrom the server system. The server system may be adapted to processperformance information associated with the athlete's activities, toprovide feedback to the athlete before, during, and/or after thephysical activities, to send information to the portable fitnessmonitoring device, and/or to receive information from the portablefitness monitoring device.

In one embodiment, portable fitness monitoring device and a computerserver system may interact with one another via a wireless wide areanetwork. In another embodiment, the server system may presentinformation to the athlete via the athlete's portable fitness monitoringdevice. In a further embodiment, the server system may presentinformation to a user (who may or may not be the athlete) via a remotecomputer (which may or may not be the portable fitness monitoringdevice).

In one exemplary embodiment of the present invention, the athlete mayinteract with the portable fitness monitoring device and the serversystem in various ways at various times as follows.

First, prior to engaging in a physical activity, the athlete may accessa website provided by the server from a remotely located personalcomputer. The athlete stationed at the remotely located personalcomputer may use the website to plan and schedule a prospective physicalactivity. Alternatively, the athlete may plan and schedule a prospectivephysical activity by accessing the website from the athlete's portablefitness monitoring device. In one embodiment, the version of theaccessible from the athlete's portable fitness monitoring device may besimplified or otherwise modified to optimize it for display on arelatively small screen.

Next, the athlete may engage in the planned scheduled activity whileutilizing the portable fitness monitoring device. Alternatively, theathlete may engage in an unplanned, unscheduled activity. During theactivity, the portable fitness monitoring device may measure variousperformance parameters associated with the athlete's physical activityand provide feedback to the athlete during the activity. Some of thefeedback provided to the athlete during the activity may depend oninformation received from the server before or during the activity. Theportable fitness monitoring device may also send information to theserver about the athlete's performance before, during, or after theactivity.

Finally, after completing the activity, the athlete may again access thewebsite provided by the server from the remotely located personalcomputer. The athlete stationed at the remotely located personalcomputer may use the website to review and analyze performanceinformation associated with the activity. Alternatively, the athlete mayreview and analyze performance information associated with the activityby accessing the website from the athlete's portable fitness monitoringdevice. In one embodiment, the version of the accessible from theathlete's portable fitness monitoring device may be simplified orotherwise modified to optimize it for display on a relatively smallscreen.

At various points before, during, or after the activity, processors ofthe portable fitness monitoring device and/or the server may receive,process, send and/or display a variety of data relating to the athlete'sperformance.

Athletes who utilize embodiments of the present invention may activelyparticipate in a variety of physical activities including, but notlimited to, running, walking, biking, skating, swimming, skiing,performing aerobic exercises, weight lifting, or participating invarious individual or team sports. Accordingly, terms such as, forexample, “athlete,” “runner,” and “individual” may be referred to hereininterchangeably, and may generally refer to any person who conducts aphysical activity in accordance with embodiments of the presentinvention.

Furthermore, while the term “user” may include the athlete who conductsa physical activity, the term “user” may also be used herein to refer toa user other than the athlete conducting the physical activities ofinterest. In other words, as described in further detail below, otherusers in addition to the athlete-user, such as coaches or friends, maybe able to interact with the system of the present invention.

More detailed examples of embodiments of the present invention that mayutilize a portable fitness monitoring device and/or a computer serversystem to provide fitness monitoring services to athletes are providedbelow.

B. PORTABLE FITNESS MONITORING DEVICES AND SERVER SYSTEMS

As illustrated in FIGS. 1 and 2, an athlete 100 engaged in physicalactivity may be equipped with a portable fitness monitoring device 102.The portable fitness monitoring device 102 may be worn, carried, orotherwise supported by the athlete 100 during the physical activity. Theportable fitness monitoring device 102 may be adapted to measure and/orcalculate various performance parameters associated with the athlete's100 physical activity, as explained in further detail below. The term“performance parameters” may include both physical parameters andphysiological parameters associated with the athlete's 100 physicalactivity. Physical parameters measured and/or calculated may include,for example, time, location, distance, speed, pace, stride count, stridelength, stride rate, and/or elevation. Physiological parameters measuredand/or calculated may include, for example, heart rate, respirationrate, blood oxygen level, blood flow, hydration status, calories burned,muscle fatigue, and/or body temperature.

In an embodiment, performance parameters may also include mental oremotional parameters such as, for example, stress level or motivationlevel. Mental and emotional parameters may be measured and/or calculateddirectly or indirectly either through posing questions to the athlete100 or by measuring things such as, for example, trunk angle or footstrike characteristics while running.

The portable fitness monitoring device 102 may be a device such as, forexample, a mobile phone, a personal digital assistant, a music fileplayer (e.g. and MP3 player), a tablet computer, an intelligent articlefor wearing (e.g. a fitness monitoring garment, wrist band, or watch), adongle (e.g. a small hardware device that is capable of physicallycoupling to a first electronic device and/or wirelessly coupling toadditional electronic devices), or any other suitable dedicated ornon-dedicated portable fitness monitoring device 102. Suitable devicesmay include, for example, the devices disclosed in commonly owned U.S.patent application Ser. No. 11/892,023, titled “Sports ElectronicTraining System, and Applications Thereof,” and commonly owned U.S.patent application Ser. No. 12/467,944, titled “Portable FitnessMonitoring Systems, and Applications Thereof,” each of which isincorporated herein by reference in its entirety.

The portable fitness monitoring device 102 may include or communicatewith one or more sensors 104 for detecting information used to measureand/or calculate performance parameters. In one embodiment of thepresent invention, as shown in FIG. 1, the portable fitness monitoringdevice 102 itself may include a sensor 104. In other words, the sensor104 may be integrally coupled to and/or included within the same housingas the portable fitness monitoring device 102. Such a sensor 104 may be,for example, a sensor 104 for detecting information that may be used tomeasure and/or calculate the athlete's 100 location, distance traveled,and/or speed.

In another embodiment, sensors 104 may be physically separate from theportable fitness monitoring device 102. In other words, these sensors104 may not be integrally coupled to or included within the same housingas the portable fitness monitoring device 102. In contrast, in such anembodiment, these sensors 104 may be in wired or wireless communicationwith the portable fitness monitoring device 102. For example, in theembodiment of FIG. 2, a sensor 104 for detecting information that may beused to measure and/or calculate the athlete's 100 heart rate is coupledto the athlete's 100 chest, while a sensor 104 for detecting informationthat may be used to measure and/or calculate the athlete's 100 distancetraveled and/or speed is coupled to the athlete's 100 shoe.

Suitable sensors 104 may include, but not be limited to, positioningsystem receivers (e.g. GPS receivers), accelerometers, pedometers,pulsimeters, thermometers, or other sensors 104 for detectinginformation that may be used to measure and/or calculate performanceparameters.

The portable fitness monitoring device 102 may include or communicatewith one or more portable output devices 106. The output devices 106 maybe adapted to convey information to the athlete 100 in a variety of wayssuch as, for example, visually, audibly, and/or tactilely (e.g. via avibrating element), either alone or in combination.

In some embodiments of the present invention, the portable fitnessmonitoring device 102 itself may include an output device 106. In otherwords, the output device 106 may be integrally coupled to and/orincluded within the same housing as the portable fitness monitoringdevice 102. In other embodiments, the output device 106 may bephysically separate from the portable fitness monitoring device 102. Inother words, the output device 106 may not be integrally coupled to orincluded within the same housing as the portable fitness monitoringdevice 102. In contrast, in such embodiments, the output device 106 maybe in wired or wireless communication with the portable fitnessmonitoring device 102. In still further embodiments, the portablefitness monitoring system may include multiple portable output devices106.

In one embodiment of the present invention, as shown in FIG. 1, theportable fitness monitoring device 102 itself may include a visualdisplay output device 106, while a separate audible output device 106(e.g. headphones or a speaker) may be in wired or wireless communicationwith the portable fitness monitoring device 102.

In another embodiment, as shown in FIG. 2, while the portable fitnessmonitoring device 102 itself does include a output device 106, aseparate output device 106 (e.g. a wrist band having a visual display)may be in wireless communication with the portable fitness monitoringdevice 102. In addition, a separate audible output device 106 (e.g.headphones) may be in wired or wireless communication with the portablefitness monitoring device 102.

In embodiments where a separate visual display output device 106 isprovided, the separate visual display output device 106 may take manydifferent forms. For example, the separate portable visual displayoutput device 106 may be a wrist watch. As a further example, in oneembodiment, the separate portable visual display output device 106 maybe a wristband having one or more visual displays, such as the devicesdisclosed in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 12/467,948, titled“Portable Fitness Monitoring Systems with Displays, and ApplicationsThereof,” which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety. Theseparate visual display output device 106 may be capable of displaying,for example, numerical performance parameter information or color-codedperformance zone related information, as described in further detailbelow.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram of exemplary components of a portable fitnessmonitoring device 102 according to an embodiment of the presentinvention. With reference to FIG. 3, the portable fitness monitoringdevice 102 may include a processor 120, a memory 122, user inputcontrols 124, a positioning system receiver 126, a wireless wide areanetwork (WWAN) transceiver 128, a wireless personal area network (WPAN)transceiver 130, a visual display 132, an audio unit 134, and a computerinput/output 136. These components may be operatively connected to carryout the functionality of the portable fitness monitoring device 102, asis described in further detail below. In other embodiments, one or moreof these components may be omitted, or additional components may beincluded. For example, as shown in FIG. 4, the portable fitnessmonitoring device 102 may not include a positioning system receiver 126.

The processor 120 of the portable fitness processing device 102 may beadapted to implement application programs that are stored in the memory122, such as those described in further detail below. For example, inone embodiment, the processor 120 may be adapted to execute a workoutroutine. The processor 120 may also be capable of implementing analog ordigital signal processing algorithms, such as, for example, thosedisclosed in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/892,023, titled “Sportselectronic training system, and applications thereof,” the disclosure ofwhich has previously been incorporated herein in its entirety. Theprocessor 120 may be operatively connected to the memory 122, the userinput controls 124, the positioning system receiver 126, the WWANtransceiver 128, the WPAN transceiver 130, the visual display 132, theaudio unit 134, and the computer input/output 136.

The memory 122 may be adapted to store application programs used toimplement aspects of the functionality of the portable fitnessmonitoring system described herein. The memory 122 may also be adaptedto store other data and information, as described in further detailbelow. For example, the memory 122 may be adapted to store recordedperformance parameter information, workout routines, music tracks,and/or a playlist. The memory 122 may include both read only memory andrandom access memory.

The user input controls 124 may be used by the athlete 100 to interactwith the portable fitness monitoring device 102. In an embodiment, userinput controls 124 may include one or more physical input buttons,switches, and/or keys. In one embodiment, the user input controls 124may include a track pad, scroll ball, and/or touch screen input controls(e.g. virtual input buttons, switches, and/or keys). In anotherembodiment, the user input controls 124 may include capacitanceswitches. In a further embodiment, the user input controls 124 may bevoice-activated controls. The function of each of these user inputcontrols 124 may be determined based on an operating mode of theportable fitness monitoring device 102.

In one embodiment, some or all of the user input controls 124 may not beintegrally coupled to and/or included within the same housing as theportable fitness monitoring device 102 itself. For example, some or allof the user input controls 124 may be part of a separate visual displayoutput device 106, such as a wristband. Depending on how the portablefitness monitoring device 102 is supported by the athlete's 100 bodyduring an activity, locating some or all of the user input controls 124on a wristband may provide the athlete 100 with easier access toactuating the user input controls 124. Commands entered via the userinput controls could be transmitted to the portable fitness monitoringdevice 102 wirelessly, as described in further detail elsewhere.

The visual display 132 may be a visual display output device 106integrally coupled to the portable fitness monitoring device 102, asdescribed above. The visual display 132 may be used to visually displayinformation to the athlete 100. In an embodiment, the visual displayscreen 132 may be, for example, a liquid crystal display (LCD), alight-emitting diode (LED) display, or a organic light-emitting diode(OLED) display. In another embodiment, a single display screen mayinclude both the visual display 132 and the user input controls 124 inthe form of touch screen input controls.

As described in further detail above with reference to FIG. 2, in oneembodiment, one or more additional output devices 106 may not beintegrally coupled to and/or included within the same housing as theportable fitness monitoring device 102 itself. For example, a separatevisual display output device 106, such as those described above, may bein wired or wireless communication with the portable fitness monitoringdevice 102.

The audio unit 134 is used to process audio signals. The audio unit 134may convert, for example, digital audio signals into amplified analogsignals that can be used to drive an audible output device 106 (e.g.headphones or a speaker) in wired or wireless communication with theportable fitness monitoring device 102, as described above. The audiounit 134 may process a variety of audio signals such as, for example,signals associated with music tracks or verbal coaching and feedback.

The WPAN transceiver 130 may be capable of wireless communication withcomponents of the portable fitness monitoring system supported by and/orin proximity to the athlete's 100 body. In one embodiment, the WPANtransceiver 130 is a low-power transceiver. The WPAN transceiver 130 mayinclude an antenna, and may operate in an unlicensed frequency band,such as 2.4 GHz. In another embodiment, the WPAN transceiver maycommunicate using known wireless protocols, including, but not limitedto, ANT and ANT+, by Dynastream Innovations, Bluetooth, Bluetooth LE,Bluetooth LET, or BlueRobin. Other known wireless communicationprotocols may be used. In an embodiment, a WPAN receiver or a WPANtransmitter capable of only unidirectional communication may be used inplace of the WPAN transceiver 130. In one embodiment, the WPANtransceiver may be an infrared transceiver.

In one embodiment, the WPAN transceiver 130 may communicate with sensors104 of the portable fitness monitoring system. In another embodiment,the WPAN transceiver 130 may communicate with visual, audible, and/ortactile portable output devices 106. In a further embodiment, aplurality of WPAN transceivers 130 may be employed for communicatingwith various sensors 104 and/or output devices 106.

In a further embodiment of the present invention, the portable fitnessmonitoring device 102 may be capable of connecting to an adapter thatmay supplement or replace the functionality of the WPAN transceiver 130.Such an adapter may be necessary if, for example, a particular sensor104 or output device 106 is not capable of communicating with the WPANtransceiver 130 (e.g. the sensor 104 or output device 106 uses adifferent wireless transmission protocol than the WPAN transceiver 130),or if the portable fitness monitoring device 102 does not include a WPANtransceiver 130. In one embodiment, the adapter may include a malecomponent for physically engaging a female component of the portablefitness monitoring device 102, where the female component is incommunication with the processor 120 of the portable fitness monitoringdevice 102. For example, in an embodiment, the adapter may include ajack capable of plugging into an audio output jack of the portablefitness monitoring device 102. Because a wide variety of portablefitness monitoring devices 102 include similar audio output jacks (e.g.a 3.5 mm TRS jacks), the same type of adapter may advantageously be usedwith a variety of devices. Alternatively, the adapter may be a memorycard such as, for example, a USB, mini USB, or SD card that is capableof being plugged into a connection port of the portable fitnessmonitoring device 102. Such memory cards may advantageously be used witha variety of devices.

In one embodiment, the adapter may be capable of receiving a datatransmission encoded in accordance with a first data protocol andcapable of sending a data transmission encoded in accordance with asecond data protocol. Thus, the adapter may further facilitate theexchange of data between multiple components that otherwise may not beable to communicate in accordance with a single data protocol.

In contrast with the WPAN transceiver 130, the WWAN transceiver 128 maybe a cellular transceiver that may be used to send and receive, forexample, voice cellular telephone signals. The WAN transceiver 128 mayalso be used to exchange information with a computer network such as,for example, the internet, as described in further detail below. TheWWAN transceiver 128 may include an antenna.

The portable fitness monitoring device 102 may also include asatellite-based positioning system receiver 126, such as a GPS- orGalileo-compatible receiver. Suitable positioning system receivers mayinclude, for example, those disclosed in commonly owned U.S. patentapplication Ser. No. 10/759,289, titled “Location-aware fitness trainingdevice, methods, and program products that support real-time interactivecommunication and automated route generation,” which is incorporatedherein by reference in its entirety. In one embodiment, the positioningsystem receiver 126 may function as a sensor 104 integrally coupled tothe portable fitness monitoring device 102, and may allow the portablefitness monitoring device 102 to detect information that may be used tomeasure and/or calculate GPS waypoints, time, location, distancetraveled, speed, and/or calories.

The computer input/output 136 may be any input/output device ortransceiver capable of wired or wireless communication with a personalcomputer 114. In one embodiment, the computer input/output 136 may be aUSB port capable of receiving a USB hardwire cable for connecting theportable fitness monitoring device 102 to the personal computer 114.Alternatively, the computer input/output 136 may be an audio jack or amemory card slot, as described above. In some embodiments, a separatecomputer input/output 136 may not be necessary if the portable fitnessmonitoring device 102 and the computer 114 are capable of communicatingwirelessly via, for example, the WPAN transceiver 130 or the WWANtransceiver 128.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, information may becommunicated between the portable fitness monitoring device 102 and oneor more external elements. In addition, the external elements themselvesmay communicate between one another. As illustrated in FIG. 5, theseexternal elements may include, for example, a network 110, a computerserver system 112, and/or a personal computer 114.

In an embodiment, the network 110 may be the internet. The internet is aworldwide collection of servers, routers, switches and transmissionlines that employ the Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) to communicate data. Inan alternate embodiment, the network may be a private intranet.

In one embodiment, a user (who may or may not be the athlete 100)stationed at the personal computer 114 located remotely from the server112 may communicate with the server 112 via the network. For example, asexplained in further detail below, the user may use a web site providedby the server 112 to plan and schedule a prospective physical activityto be conducted by the athlete 100 using the portable fitness monitoringdevice 102. After the activity has been conducted, the user may also usethe website provided by the server 112 to review and analyze performanceinformation associated with the activity. Alternatively, as described infurther detail below, an athlete-user 100 may access the website beforeand after the activity directly from their portable fitness monitoringdevice 102. In one embodiment, the version of the accessible from theathlete's portable fitness monitoring device may be simplified orotherwise modified to optimize it for display on a relatively smallscreen.

In another embodiment, the portable fitness monitoring device 102 maycommunicate wirelessly with server 112 via the network 110. Suchcommunication may be achieved, for example, by way of the WWANtransceiver 128 of the portable fitness monitoring device 102 utilizinga wide area network. Alternatively, communication may be achieved by wayof the WPAN transceiver 130.

For example, the portable fitness monitoring device 102 may communicatewith a WWAN communications system such as that employed by mobiletelephones. For example, a WWAN communication system may include aplurality of geographically distributed communication towers and basestation systems. Communication towers may include one or more antennaesupporting long range two-way radio frequency communication wirelessdevices, such as the portable fitness monitoring device 102. The radiofrequency communication between antennae and the portable fitnessmonitoring device 102 may utilize radio frequency signals conforming toany known or future developed wireless protocol, for example, GSM, GPRS,EDGE, EV-DO, UMTS, LTE, CDMA, AMPS, IEEE 802.x (e.g., IEEE 802.16(WiMAX)), etc. The information transmitted over-the-air by the basestation systems and the cellular communication towers to the portablefitness monitoring device 102 may be further transmitted to or receivedfrom one or more additional circuit-switched or packet-switchedcommunication networks, including, for example, the internet.

Wireless communication between the portable fitness monitoring device102 and the server 112 via the network 110 may occur before, during,and/or after an athletic performance conducted using the portablefitness monitoring device 102, as explained in further detail below.Prior to the activity, the server 112 may send, for example, activitygoal or route information to the portable fitness monitoring device 102.For example, the server 112 may send one or more workout routines to theportable fitness monitoring device 102. During the activity, theportable fitness monitoring device 102 may send, for example, real-timeperformance information to the server 112, and in response the server112 may send, for example, real-time feedback to the portable fitnessmonitoring device 102. In one embodiment, this communication during theactivity may occur as a result of and/or simultaneously with theexecution of a workout routine by the portable fitness monitoring device102. After the activity, the portable fitness monitoring device 102 maysend, for example, complete activity performance information to theserver 112, and in response the server 112 may send, for example,post-activity analysis to the portable fitness monitoring device 102.

In another embodiment, as shown in FIG. 6, the portable fitnessmonitoring device 102 may communicate indirectly with the server 112through the personal computer 114. Communication between the portablefitness monitoring device 102 and the personal computer 114 may beachieved, for example, using wired, WPAN, or WWAN communications.

As will be appreciated by those of ordinary skill in the art, wiredcommunication between the portable fitness monitoring device 102 and thepersonal computer 114 may be achieved, for example, by placing theportable fitness monitoring device 102 in a docking unit that isattached to the personal computer 114 using a communications wireplugged into a communications port of the personal computer 114.

In another embodiment, wired communication between the portable fitnessmonitoring device 102 and the personal computer 114 may be achieved, forexample, by connecting a cable between the portable fitness monitoringdevice 102 and the computer 114. The computer input/output 136 of theportable fitness monitoring device 102 and a communications port of thecomputer 114 may include USB ports. The cable connecting the portablefitness monitoring device 102 and the computer 114 may be a USB cablewith suitable USB plugs including, but not limited to, USB-A or USB-Bregular, mini, or micro plugs. Alternatively, the cable may be aaudio-jack-to-USB cable.

Wired, WPAN, or WWAN communication between the portable fitnessmonitoring device 102 and the personal computer 114 may occur beforeand/or after an athletic performance is conducted using the portablefitness monitoring device 102 if the athlete 100 is in relatively closeproximity to the personal computer 114, as explained in further detailbelow.

In one embodiment, as shown in FIG. 7, one athlete's 100 portablefitness monitoring device 102 may be capable of communicating withanother athlete's 100 portable fitness monitoring device 102.Communication may occur directly between the devices 102, or via anetwork 110. Such communication may occur wirelessly or via a hardwireconnection, as explained above.

According to embodiments of the fitness monitoring service of thepresent invention, a wide variety of information may be communicatedbetween any of the personal fitness monitoring device 102, the personalcomputer 114, the network 110, and the server 112. Such information mayinclude, for example, performance parameters, training advice, trainingplans, workout routines, calendar data, route information, music,videos, text, images, voice communications, settings, software, andfirmware, as described in further detail below.

FIG. 8 is a diagram of an exemplary software configuration of the server112. The application software of server 112 includes a number ofdifferent modules capable of providing fitness monitoring services toathletes 100. In one embodiment of the present invention, these modulesinclude a start module 200, and plan module 300, a schedule module 400,a track module 500, a support module 600, a library module 700, a forummodule 800, a route module 1500, a coaching group module 1600, and anassessment workout module 1700. Each module supports one or moregraphical user interfaces (GUIs) capable of being presented to athletes100 at one or more portable fitness monitoring devices 102 and/or usersat remote personal computers 114. Embodiments of the present inventionmay employ software modules such as, for example, those disclosed incommonly owned U.S. patent application Ser. No. 12/468,025, titled“Program Products, Methods, and Systems for Providing Fitness MonitoringServices,” which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.

The server 112 may be, for example, a telecommunication server, a webserver, or other similar types of database servers. In an embodiment,server 112 may have multiple processors and multiple shared or separatememory components such as, for example, one or more computing devicesincorporated in a clustered computing environment or server farm. Thecomputing process performed by the clustered computing environment, orserver farm, can be carried out across multiple processors located atthe same or different locations. In an embodiment, server 112 can beimplemented on a single computing device.

As is known by those of skill in the art, a GUI may use a combination oftechnologies and devices to provide a platform that the athlete 100 orother user can interact with via the portable fitness monitoring device102 or the personal computer 114. A GUI may offer, for example,graphical elements, visual indicators, and/or text to representinformation and actions available to the athlete 100 or other user.Graphical elements may include, for example, windows, menus, radiobuttons, check boxes, and/or icons. The athlete 100 or other user mayuse a physical input device, such as a mouse, track pad, and/or scrollball to control the position of a cursor on their portable fitnessmonitoring device 102 or personal computer 114 screen. Alternatively,the athlete 100 or other user may use a touch screen, with or without astylus, to interact directly with what is displayed (rather thanindirectly via a cursor). Various touch screens such as, for example,resistive or capacitive touch screens, may be employed.

Those skilled in the art will appreciate that alternative or additionalmodules and sub-modules may be implemented within the server 112 inorder to provide or extend the described or additional functionalities.For example, the software configuration of server 112 may include anoperating system, which may be one of the commercially availableoperating systems such as, for example, Windows, UNIX, LINUX, Mac OSX,or AIX. The operating system may also have an associated applicationprogramming interface through which middleware and application programsmay access the services of the operating system. In addition, ahypertext transport protocol (HTTP) server may run on top of theoperating system. As is well known in the art, HTTP server maycommunicate data over the internet using HTTP.

As illustrated in many of the figures, the various software modules ofthe fitness monitoring service of the present invention may support GUIsthrough which an athlete 100 or other user can interact with the fitnessmonitoring service using the portable fitness monitoring device 102and/or the personal computer 114. As will be appreciated by those ofskill in the art, in one embodiment the GUIs may appear as web pagesprovided by the server 112 via a website that may be accessible to theathlete 100 or other user over the internet 110 using a web browser ontheir portable fitness monitoring device 102 or their personal computer114. In other embodiments, the GUIs may be generated by a processorbased only on information stored on the portable fitness monitoringdevice 102 or the personal computer 114, a CD-ROM, a memory card orother removable media, a mobile phone, or other computer readable mediaaccessible locally. In embodiments of the present invention, athletes100 or other users can, among other things, use data generated from pastperformances to gauge improvement, set goals for the future, shareperformance data with others, and/receive assistance in planningexercises at intensities appropriate for the athlete's 100 currentfitness level and goals.

C. EXEMPLARY PRE-ACTIVITY DATA PROCESSING AND FEEDBACK ASPECTS

In some embodiments of the present invention, prior to engaging in aphysical activity, a user (who may or may not be the athlete 100) mayaccess a website provided by the server 112 from a remotely locatedpersonal computer 114.

The term “personal computer” 114 is used herein to refer to any type ofcomputing device having one or more processors, a network connection,and display that is capable of displaying a website. Thus, a personalcomputer 114 may be, for example, a desktop or laptop computer. In anembodiment, the portable fitness monitoring device 102 itself may alsoserve as the personal computer 114—thus, for example, the personalcomputer may be a mobile phone, a personal digital assistant, a musicfile player (e.g. an MP3 player), or a tablet computer.

In order to access the features of embodiments of the present inventionprior to engaging in a physical activity, a user stationed at the remotepersonal computer 114 may login to the server 112 via the internet 110.As is well known to those skilled in the art, the login process, whichmay be controlled by a login wizard run by start module 200, typicallyincludes the entry by the remote user of a login ID and password orother authentication information to the server 112, which thenauthenticates the identity of the user by reference to a user databaseor the like. Embodiments of the fitness monitoring services of thepresent invention may be offered to a plurality of athletes 100 or otherusers forming a user community, may be restricted to users that havebeen issued login IDs and passwords for accessing the server 112, and/ormay further be offered in exchange for a subscription fee.

Upon successful login, start module 200 may present a home page, asillustrated in FIG. 9. As shown in FIG. 9, a menu bar 204 may be presentnear one of the edges of a GUI window of the present invention. The menubar 204 may include several icons or indicia corresponding to the start200, plan 300, schedule 400, track 500, support 600, library 700, andforum 800 modules. In one embodiment, the menu bar 204 may be present onevery GUI page presented to the user by the server 112. After logging into the server 112, the user may be able to navigate to areas of thewebsite supported by different modules by selecting their correspondingicons with, for example, a cursor or a touch screen interface.Additional icons corresponding to sub-modules or program wizardsassociated with a particular module may pop up or otherwise be displayedto the user if the user selects or hovers their cursor over a moduleicon.

In an embodiment, the user stationed at a remote personal computer 114may alternatively choose to interact with the server 112 via a softwarewidget or mobile device web application. As is known by those of skillin the art, a software widget is a software application includingportable code intended for one or more different software platforms. Theterm “software widget” implies that either the application, userinterface, or both, may be relatively simple and easy to use, asexemplified by a desk accessory or an applet.

In one embodiment, the software widget may be a desktop widget that is aspecialized GUI widget intended to run on a personal computer 114desktop. In another embodiment, the software widget may be a mobilewidget that can operate on mobile devices (e.g. smart phones). Thewidget may present a simplified version of the user interfaces explainedin further detail herein, and may provide alternative means for the userto log in to the server 112. The widget may allow the user to reviewsummary information about their past performance, and may allow the userto view, for example, a calendar of upcoming workouts, as described infurther detail below.

From the home page, the user may be able to navigate to differentmodules, sub-modules, or wizards by selecting their corresponding iconsfrom the menu bar 204 with the cursor. In one embodiment, the user maybe able to select an introductory sub-module.

The introductory sub-module may be capable of displaying an introductorypage. The introductory page may contain general information about thefitness monitoring system of the present invention, including a briefdescription of the system, its intended users, and the potentialbenefits available to athletes 100 and other users.

For example, the introductory page may contain information about theplanning, scheduling, and tracking capabilities of the fitnessmonitoring system. In one embodiment of the present invention, someaspects of the planning, scheduling, and tracking functions may be tiedto a color-coded zone system such as, for example, the zone systemsdisclosed in commonly owned U.S. patent application Ser. No. 12/467,944,titled “Portable Fitness Monitoring Systems, and Applications Thereof,”U.S. patent application Ser. No. 12/467,948, titled “Portable FitnessMonitoring Systems with Displays, and Applications Thereof,” and U.S.patent application Ser. No. 12/468,025, titled “Program Products,Methods, and Systems for Providing Fitness Monitoring Services,” each ofwhich have previously been incorporated herein by reference in theirentireties. In such an embodiment, the color-coded zone system may bebased on zones of parameters including, but not limited to, heart rate,speed, pace, stride rate, calories, respiration rate, blood oxygenlevel, blood flow, hydration status, and/or body temperature. Agraphical representation and a brief description of such a color-codedsystem may be provided on the introductory page and in personalsettings. In one embodiment of the present invention, prior planning andscheduling a workout, the user may be given the option to select whichperformance parameter to base their zones on (e.g. heart rate, pace,speed, etc.).

In an embodiment of the present invention, the color of certaingraphical information provided by the server 112 via the various GUIspresented may be dictated by detected or target performance information.Various modules of the fitness monitoring service of the presentinvention may be programmed with algorithms for establishing one or moreperformance parameter ranges or “zones.” Each zone may be associatedwith a particular color. Zones may be defined, for example, as ranges ofpercentages of an athlete's 100 maximum speed or heart rate.Accordingly, each zone may be associated with a particular level ofeffort.

FIG. 10 is an exemplary illustration of zone definitions according toone embodiment of the present invention. An energy zone, ranging from65% to 75% of an athlete's 100 maximum heart rate, is associated withthe color blue. An endurance zone, ranging from 75% to 85% of anathlete's 100 maximum heart rate, is associated with the color green. Astrength zone, ranging from 85% to 90% of an athlete's 100 maximum heartrate, is associated with the color yellow. Finally, a power zone,ranging from 90% to 95% of an athlete's 100 maximum heart rate, isassociated with the color red. These ranges and color combinations areexemplary only; numerous other ranges and/or colors could be used.

FIG. 11 is an exemplary illustration of zone definitions according toanother embodiment of the present invention. An energy zone, rangingfrom a 12 minute per mile to a 10 minute per mile pace, is associatedwith the color blue. An endurance zone, ranging from a 10 minute permile to an 8 minute per mile pace, is associated with the color green. Astrength zone, ranging from an 8 minute per mile to a 7 minute per milepace, is associated with the color yellow. Finally, a power zone,ranging from a 7 minute per mile to a 6 minute per mile pace, isassociated with the color red. These ranges and color combinations areexemplary only; numerous other ranges and/or colors could be used. Thezones may instead be based on other parameters such as, for example,speed.

In an embodiment, an additional zone (for example, a pink zone) may alsobe provided that overlaps the ranges of the blue, green, and yellowzones. The pink zone may primarily be used for setting intensity goalsfor beginners. In a further embodiment, the colors may change incharacter from relatively light or dim colors to relatively dark orintense colors as values associated with the zone colors increase fromthe lower to upper limits of the zone.

The zones may be assigned based on predetermined fitness goals. Forexample, in the embodiments of FIGS. 10 and 11, the energy zone (blue)may be associated with a heart rate or pace range, respectively, thatallows an athlete 100 to build their aerobic base. The endurance zone(green) may be associated with a heart rate or pace range, respectively,that allows an athlete 100 to build cardiovascular strength and burncalories. The strength zone (yellow) may be associated with a heart rateor pace range, respectively that allows an athlete 100 to improve theiraerobic threshold, endurance, and metabolism. The power zone (red) maybe associated with a heart rate or pace range, respectively, that allowsan athlete 100 to improve their anaerobic threshold, endurance, andmetabolism.

For pre-activity planning purposes, the zones can be presented to theuser as an indication of the difficulty of a particular workout. Formonitoring and tracking purposes during and after the activity, asdescribed in further detail below, the zones may be established for aparticular athlete 100 based on, for example, a maximum heart rate or amaximum speed.

In particular, an athlete's 100 maximum heart rate may not changesignificantly with training, and it may be set by the athlete's 100genetics. An athlete's 100 maximum heart rate can be provided to thefitness monitoring service of the present invention in a number of ways,as described in further detail below. In contrast, an athlete's 100maximum speed may change significantly with additional training.

As indicated above, in embodiments of the present invention, the menubar 204 may be present on every GUI page presented to the user by theapplication software of server 112. Accordingly, at any time, the usermay be able to navigate to portions of the website supported bydifferent modules, sub-modules, or wizards by selecting theircorresponding icons from the menu bar 204 with, for example, the cursoror a touch screen interface. In one embodiment, the user may be able toselect an icon corresponding to the plan module 300 from the menu bar204.

FIG. 12 is an exemplary GUI window that may be displayed by the planmodule 300. From the main plan module page, the user (who may or may notbe the athlete 100) may be able to select from one of a plurality oficons corresponding to training plans. Additional icons corresponding totraining sub-plans may pop up or otherwise be displayed to the user ifthe user selects a training plan icon with the cursor or via a touchscreen interface.

In one embodiment of the present invention, from the main plan page, theplan module 300 may enable the user to select training plan iconsassociated with various training plan sub-modules, such as, for example,a Learn to Run sub-module, a Be Fit sub-module, a Run a Race sub-module,a De-Stress sub-module, a Lose Weight sub-module, and a Finish Fastersub-module. Training plan sub-modules of embodiments of the presentinvention may include features such as, for example, those disclosed incommonly owned U.S. patent application Ser. No. 12/468,025, titled“Program Products, Methods, and Systems for Providing Fitness MonitoringServices,” which has previously incorporated herein by reference in itsentirety.

In an embodiment of the present invention, training plan icons may beassociated with various training plan sub-modules that are sportspecific. For example, training plan sub-modules designed to providetraining plans to athletes 100 who desire to train for and/or maintaintheir conditioning for certain sports such as, for example, soccer (i.e.football), American football, tennis, inline skating, rugby, cycling,and/or basketball, may also be provided.

Each plan module 300 sub-module may be associated with a differenttraining plan having a different intended athlete 100 audience anddifferent goals. For example, in one embodiment of the invention, theRun a Race sub-module may provide a plurality of different plansdepending on the distance of the race the athlete 100 is planning toparticipate in. Plans may be provided, for example, for 5K, 10K, ½marathon, and full marathon races. An athlete 100 utilizing one of theRun a Race programs may be encouraged to, for example, conduct intervalor other speed work training, take long runs and recovery runs, andgenerally build their endurance and aerobic capacity so that they areable to successfully complete their race.

FIG. 13 is an exemplary GUI window that may be displayed by the planmodule 300 Run a Race sub-module. Each plan sub-module page may includea description of the plan, including its intended athletic users 100 andits goals. Each plan sub-module page may further include a levelselector 314 and a plan preview 316. The particular informationdisplayed by the plan preview 316 may depend on a level selected via thelevel selector 314.

Once a difficulty level for a prospective plan has been selected vialevel selector 314, the particular training plan sub-module provides theplan preview 316 for the plan. The plan preview 316 may include adescription of what to expect from the plan, a description of thebenefits of the plan, and/or a sample schedule. The plan description maymake reference to the particular color-coded pace, speed, or heart ratezones that an athlete 100 may be prompted to exercise at as part of thatplan.

After determining which plan best suits the athlete's 100 needs, theuser may select an icon that enables plan module 300 to launch a planpersonalization wizard. The plan personalization wizard may prompt theuser to select a start date for their training plan, so that the planmay be built forward from that date. For users who select arace-oriented plan (such as those provided by the Run a Racesub-module), personalization wizard may prompt the user to select theday of the athlete's 100 race, so that the plan may be built backwardfrom the race date. The plan personalization wizard may further promptthe user to give their plan a name. In one embodiment, the wizard mayprovide a default name. In this way, a user who wishes to schedulemultiple training plans may be able to distinguish one plan from anotherby the plans' names.

In one embodiment, after the user finalizes their plan via thepersonalization wizard, schedule module 400 may populate a GUI calendar402 with the user's plan (e.g. individual workouts of the plan). Inaddition, at any other time when the user 100 is logged in to the server112, the user may be able to navigate to the GUI calendar 402 byselecting the icon corresponding to the schedule module 400 from themenu bar 204.

FIG. 14 is an exemplary GUI window according to an embodiment of thepresent invention containing the calendar 402 that may be displayed bythe schedule module 400 for a user who has selected a Finish Fasterlevel 7 marathon race program. From the calendar 402 page, the user maybe able to view the individual workouts of their training plan populatedthroughout the calendar 402.

The individual workouts populated into the calendar 402 may berepresented by a zone bar indicator 320. The zone bar indicator 320 maycommunicate several pieces of information. It may indicate the number ofintervals to be performed in a workout comprised of training intervals.It may also indicate the relative intensities of each interval to beperformed, based on, for example, a target heart rate, pace, or speedzone, as indicated by a color. The calendar 402 may also indicate theduration of each workout scheduled for each date. The GUI pagecontaining the calendar 402 may also provide an indication of the numberof workouts and/or number of weeks remaining for the current plan.

In one embodiment, the user may be able to access a workout listcontaining a listing of all workouts of their currently selected plan byselecting an appropriate icon with, for example, their cursor or a touchscreen interface. The workout list is another way of presenting theworkout information populated on to calendar 402.

In addition, a custom workout wizard may allow a user to add workouts totheir calendar 402 regardless of whether or not an athlete 100 iscurrently participating in a scheduled plan program. If an athlete 100is participating in a scheduled plan program, the custom workout featuremay be used to supplement the plan with additional workouts, removeworkouts, or edit workouts as the user desires.

The custom workout wizard may allow a user to build a workout with asingle zone, or a workout with a plurality of zone intervals. In anembodiment, as shown in FIG. 15, the custom workout wizard may present aGUI page that allows the user to build a custom workout one interval ata time in a graphical manner. The GUI page may include an intervalbuilder bar 404 that in some ways resembles a zone bar indicator 320.After selecting an particular segment of the interval builder bar 404with, for example, a cursor, the user may assign a zone intensity colorand a interval duration to the segment using drop-down menus.

For example, in the embodiment of FIG. 15, the user has so farconstructed an interval builder bar 404 that includes a series of 30second red zone (dark grey shading) and green zone (black shading)intervals. Such a pattern would allow the athlete 100 to conduct 30second red zone sprints. In addition, the interval builder bar 404includes five minute blue zone intervals (cross-hatched shading) at thestart and finish. These blue zone intervals may serve as warm up andcool down periods, and the user may enable them by checking anappropriate checkbox. By selecting a particular interval builder bar 404segment, such as segment 406, the GUI page may display details about theparticular segment in a interval details box 408. For example, intervaldetails box 408 indicates that segment 406 is a 30 second red zoneinterval. The user could modify segment 406 by adjusting the zone andduration options in interval details box 408.

In one embodiment, the zone interval times may be predetermined periodsof time (e.g. 30 seconds, 1 minute, 5 minutes). In another embodiment,the user may be able to adjust or program the zone interval timeperiods.

In addition, the user may be able to name the custom workout and providenotes regarding its goal or purpose, and may save the custom workout forfuture use and population in calendar 402.

In one embodiment of the present invention, as outlined above in FIG. 8,the application software of server 112 may be configured to include aroute module 1500. The route module 1500 may be capable of generatingroutes for the athlete 100 to follow during a fitness activity, storingroutes within a route database for subsequent access, and downloadingthe routes to portable fitness monitoring devices 102. The route module1500 may also include additional features, such as those disclosed incommonly owned U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/759,289, titled“Location-aware fitness training device, methods, and program productsthat support real-time interactive communication and automated routegeneration,” which has previously been incorporated herein by referencein its entirety.

In an embodiment, the route module 1500 may include a route wizard thatis capable of guiding a user (who may or may not be the athlete 100)through a step-by-step process for generating routes having desiredparameters and attributes. Route module 1500 may have access to alocally or remotely stored map database that stores street and/or trailinformation in association with at least latitude and longitudeinformation, and possibly elevation information. Thus, given at leastone terminal point (e.g., a starting point), route module 1500 may beable to construct one or more routes having a desired length, elevationprofile, and other parameters and attributes. In one embodiment, theuser may be able to build a new route from scratch or search for anexisting route within a route database.

If the user opts to build a new route from scratch, the user may firstbe prompted to designate an approximate starting point of the route by,for example, entering a street address, ZIP code, or a particularpoint-of-interest. Next, the user may be prompted to enter a desiredoverall length of the route, specified either by distance or by time, ifthese parameters are not already specified for a particular workout of atraining plan. If time is utilized to specify the length of the route, adesired or historical average pace may be necessary so that a routedistance can be computed. In addition, the user may also be prompted toenter optional route attributes such as, for example, a desiredelevation profile of the route or a desired pattern of the route (e.g.linear, loop, etc.). Once the user has entered all required parametersand any optional route attributes, the route module 1500 may build oneor more routes conforming as closely as possible to the route parametersand route attributes entered. The presentation of such routes by a routewizard is described in further detail below.

If the user opts to search for an existing route within a routedatabase, the user may be permitted to specify a location of the routeby, for example, city name, ZIP code, or point-of-interest. The user mayfurther be prompted to enter optional route attributes such as, forexample, a desired elevation profile of the route, a desired pattern ofthe route, desired safety characterization of the route, and/or adesired route difficulty rating. In one embodiment, the route difficultyrating may be assigned to the route based on one or more of routelength, elevation changes over the route, and altitude of the route.

In an embodiment, as shown in FIG. 16, the route wizard may present anavigable geographical map populated with graphical indications oflocations for which preexisting routes are stored within the routedatabase. In the depicted embodiment, the map includes a graphicalrepresentation 1502 of a geographical area, for example, a political,cultural, or regional boundary. Within the geographical representation1502, the route wizard may present a number of indicia 1504 identifyinggeographic locations of one or more preexisting routes for which routedatabase stores route data. In response to the user hovering over one ofindicia 1504 utilizing, for example, a cursor, the route wizard maydisplay in a pop-up window route maps 1506 of the routes in thegeographic location corresponding to the selected indicia 1504. If theuser visually identifies one or more routes of interest at a particulargeographical location through visual inspection of indicia 1504 and/orthe route maps 1506 displayed within windows, the user may select thatgeographical location by clicking on the associated indicia 1504. Inthis manner, a GUI window and its associated functionality provide theuser with a graphical and intuitive way of viewing and selecting routelocations of interest.

Once a particular route is chosen by the user, the route may beassociated with one or more workouts of the training plan scheduled onthe calendar. In one embodiment, the route may be transformed into asequence of turn-by-turn instructions and transmitted to the portablefitness monitoring device 102 prior to the activity. In an embodiment,the route may be transmitted to the portable fitness monitoring device102 as part of—or simultaneously with—a workout routine.

As indicated above, the menu bar 204 may include an icon correspondingto the support module 600 of the application software.

The support module 600 may include help and settings sub-modules. Thehelp sub-module may present GUI pages that contain general informationabout the fitness monitoring system of the present invention, includinga brief description of the system, its intended users, and the potentialbenefits available to those users. The help sub-module may provide adescription of the various functions of the interactive websitesupported by the software and the underlying modules, sub-modules, andwizards.

The settings sub-module of the support software module 600 may becapable of displaying GUI windows for collecting, storing, and/orreviewing personal settings, workout settings, device settings, and/orprivacy settings.

FIG. 17 is an exemplary GUI window that may be generated by the settingssub-module for collecting personal settings information. Personalsettings information may include, for example, name, address, emailaddress, password, gender, birth date, and/or address information. Thisinformation may be used to associate a specific athlete 100 with aparticular user account. In an embodiment, some of this information maybe used to tailor aspects of the portable fitness monitoring system tothe athlete 100, or to provide messages, product offers, and/or otheritems of interest to the athlete 100.

FIG. 18 is an exemplary GUI window that may be displayed by the settingssub-module for collecting coaching settings information. Coachingsettings may include an option to select, for example, heart rate- orpace-based feedback and coaching. The coaching settings display mayinclude a chart 410 detailing the athlete's 100 current zone ranges fora given parameter.

In addition, a user may access the coaching settings feature to adjusttheir zone ranges if they feel that the current zone ranges are notideal. For example, in one embodiment, a user could manually enter newzone ranges. In another embodiment, as illustrated in FIG. 18, the GUIof the coaching settings page may ask the athlete 100 how they feel. Theathlete 100 may indicate, for example via selector bar 412, that thezones feel too easy, easy, good, hard, or too hard. The coachingsettings page may provide guidance to the athlete 100 to help theathlete 100 properly answer the question. For example, the coachingsettings page may indicate that the “too hard” option should be selectedif the athlete has to sprint to reach the green zone. In response to theathlete's selection, the system of the present invention may adjust theathlete's 100 performance zone ranges appropriately. In an embodiment,the zone adjustments may be made in response to a series of questionsthat seek to determine an appropriate intensity level for the athlete100.

The settings sub module may also allow an athlete 100 to enter workoutsettings information. Workout settings information may includepreferences such as preferred distance units (miles vs. kilometers),height units (feet and inches vs. meters and centimeters), weight units(pounds vs. kilograms), time format (12 hour clock vs. 24 hour clock),and a preferred week start date (e.g. Sunday or Monday). Workoutsettings information may also include fitness profile information suchas the athlete's 100 weight, height, gender, and maximum heart rate (ifknown). In one embodiment, the athlete 100 may be periodically promptedby the system to update their fitness profile information.

FIG. 19 is an exemplary GUI window that may be displayed by the settingssub-module for collecting device settings information. Device settingsinformation may include settings for any peripheral devices the athlete100 has and is using in conjunction with the system of the presentinvention. These devices may include, for example, the portable fitnessmonitoring device 102 which may take the form of, for example, a mobilephone, a dedicated portable fitness monitoring device, a non-dedicatedportable fitness monitoring device, a sports mode-enabled MP3 player, asports-enabled dongle, a sports watch, a display device, and sensors(e.g. pedometers or heart rate sensors). The user may indicate which, ifany, devices the athlete 100 may use during workouts.

For example, via the settings page, the user may be able to adjust audiofeedback options provided by the portable fitness monitoring device 102during a workout, as described in further detail below. In oneembodiment, the user may select audio feedback with different types orstyles of voices such as, for example, voices of different genderedspeakers, voices with different accents, voices in different languages,voices from celebrities or fictional characters, and voices of differenttones (e.g. supportive, calming, energizing, or stern). In anotherembodiment, the user may select specific performance parametermeasurements to be recited via audio feedback during the workout. Forexample, a user may choose to have elapsed time, calories burned, anddistance traveled so far announced to the athlete 100 at regularintervals, on demand, or at predetermined times/locations throughout theworkout.

D. EXEMPLARY DATA PROCESSING AND FEEDBACK ASPECTS DURING AN ACTIVITY

In one embodiment of the system of the present invention, an athlete 100may interact with a portable fitness monitoring device 102, such asthose illustrated in FIGS. 1-4, just prior to and/or during a fitnessactivity.

FIG. 20 is an illustration of a portable fitness monitoring device 102in the form of a mobile phone. In an embodiment of the presentinvention, the portable fitness monitoring device 102 in the form of amobile phone may include at least a processor 120, a memory 122, userinput controls 124, a positioning system receiver 126, a wireless widearea network (WWAN) transceiver 128, a visual display 132, and an audiounit 134, such as those illustrated in FIG. 3. In one embodiment, theportable fitness monitoring device 102 in the form of a mobile phone mayinclude each of the components indicated in FIG. 3. A visual display 132in the form of a LCD screen, and user input controls 124 in the form ofa physical keyboard and a scroll ball, are illustrated in FIG. 20. Anenlarged version of the LCD screen display 132 has been illustrated onthe right side of FIG. 20. In an embodiment, a content banner 138 may bepresent at an edge of the display 132. The content banner may provide,for example, advertisements, rewards, weather information, achievements,or statistics of other information about users of the fitness monitoringservice.

FIG. 21 is a diagram of an exemplary software configuration of theapplication software of the portable fitness monitoring device 102. Asindicated above, the memory 122 of the portable fitness monitoringdevice 102 may be adapted to store application programs used toimplement aspects of the functionality of the portable fitnessmonitoring system described herein. Thus, the application software maybe stored, for example, in the memory 122 of the portable fitnessmonitoring device. Alternatively, those of skill in the art willunderstand that all or part of the software may be stored on the server112 and accessed over the network 110 and run remotely as a mobile webapplication.

This application software includes a number of different softwaremodules capable of providing fitness monitoring services to athletes 100using portable fitness monitoring devices 102. In one embodiment of thepresent invention, these modules include a start module 1000, a gomodule 1100, a track module 1200, an explore module 1300, a settingsmodule 1400, and a positioning system smoothing sub module 1800. Eachmodule may support one or more GUIs capable of being presented to anathlete 100 using the portable fitness monitoring device 102.Embodiments of the present invention may employ additional portablefitness monitoring device 102 software features such as, for example,those disclosed in commonly owned U.S. patent application Ser. No.11/892,023, titled “Sports Electronic Training System, and ApplicationsThereof,” which has previously been incorporated herein by reference inits entirety.

As described above with respect to display via the personal computer114, a GUI may offer, for example, graphical elements, visualindicators, and/or text to represent information and actions availableto the athlete 100. The athlete 100 may use a physical input device,such as keyboard or scroll ball to interact with the GUI of the portablefitness monitoring device 102. Alternatively, the athlete 100 may use atouch screen to interact directly with what is displayed. Various touchscreens such as, for example, resistive or capacitive touch screens, maybe employed.

Those skilled in the art will appreciate that alternative or additionalsoftware modules and sub-modules may be implemented in order to provideor extend the described or additional functionalities to the athlete 100using the portable fitness monitoring device 102. For example, thesoftware configuration of software stored on a portable fitnessmonitoring device 102 may include a portable device operating system,which may be one of the commercially available mobile phone operatingsystems such as, for example, BlackBerry OS, iPhone OS, Windows Mobile,Symbian, LINUX, WebOS, or Android. The portable device operating systemmay also have an associated application programming interface throughwhich middleware and application programs may access the services of theoperating system.

The various modules of the fitness monitoring service of the presentinvention may support GUIs through which an athlete 100 can interactwith the fitness monitoring service using the portable fitnessmonitoring device 102 just prior to and/or during an activity. As willbe appreciated by those of skill in the art, in one embodiment the GUIsmay be supported by a mobile device web application being run on theportable fitness monitoring device 102. In another embodiment, the GUIsmay appear as web pages provided by the server 112 via a website thatmay be accessible to the user over the internet 110 using a web browseron their portable fitness monitoring device 102.

In order to access the features of embodiments of the present inventionjust prior to or during a physical activity, the athlete 100 using theportable fitness monitoring device 102 may power on their portablefitness monitoring device 102 if it is not already in a powered upstate. In some embodiments, it may be necessary for the athlete 100 tomanipulate user input controls 124 to enter a portable fitnessmonitoring mode to access the application software.

The first time the fitness monitoring application is launched, the startmodule 1000 may prompt the athlete 100 to select a preferred language.Next, or immediately upon subsequent launches of the application, thestart module 1000 may prompt the athlete 100 to enter a password toproceed. The first time the application is launched, the start module1000 may prompt the athlete 100 to select a password.

Upon entering the correct password, a GUI supported by the start module1000 may ask the athlete 100 if they would like to link their portablefitness monitoring device 102 to a web account previously set up via theserver 112 or if they would like to proceed as an un-linked guest.

If the athlete 100 indicates via activation of the user input controls124 that the athlete 100 would like to link to a web account, the startmodule 1000 may present a GUI login wizard wherein the athlete 100 isable to log into and link to their web account. Upon linking to the webaccount, settings previously established using the personal computer 114and the server 112 via the support module 600 may be transferred to orsynced with the portable fitness monitoring device 102. Such settingsmay include, for example: workout settings information such as preferreddistance units (miles vs. kilometers), height units (feet and inches vs.meters and centimeters), weight units (pounds vs. kilograms), timeformat (12 hour clock vs. 24 hour clock), and a preferred week startdate (e.g. Sunday or Monday); fitness profile information such as theuser's weight, height, and maximum heart rate (if known); heart rate,pace, or other custom workout interval setting information; audiofeedback option information; and/or performance parameter feedbackoption information.

If the athlete 100 indicates via activation of the user input controls124 that the athlete 100 does not have or does not want to link to a webaccount, the start module 1000 may present a login wizard where in theathlete 100 is able to enter information such as, for example, preferredunit preferences, personal information such as the athlete's 100 age,height, weight, and sex, and/or the athlete's 100 desired voice trainingoptions. This information may be necessary for conducting an “assessmentworkout” for a guest athlete 100, as described in further detail below.

After the athlete 100 chooses to link to a web account or to continue asa guest, the start module 1000 may present a home page GUI, asillustrated in FIG. 22A. During subsequent launches of the softwareapplication, the home page may be presented to the athlete 100immediately upon launch. As shown in FIG. 22A, a header 1002 may bepresent near one of the edges of a GUI window of the present invention.In one embodiment, the header 1002 may be present on every GUI pagepresented to the athlete 100 by software accessible by the portablefitness monitoring device 102.

The home page may also include several icons or indicia corresponding tothe go 1100, track 1200, explore 1300, and settings 1400 modules. In oneembodiment, the header 1002 may also provide a drop-down list includingicons or indicia corresponding to the go 1100, track 1200, explore 1300,and settings 1400 modules. After launching the application software, theathlete 100 may cause different GUI pages to be provided by differentmodules by selecting their corresponding icons using user input controls124. Additional icons corresponding to sub-modules or program wizardsassociated with a particular module may pop up or otherwise be displayedto the athlete 100 if the athlete 100 selects or hovers over a moduleicon with a cursor.

The settings module 1400 may offer functionalities similar to thosedescribed above with respect to the support module 600 of theapplication software of the server 112.

The go module 1100 may include a workout selection sub-module and aworkout recording sub-module. In one embodiment, when the athlete 100selects the icon corresponding to the go module 1100 on the home page,the go module initiates the workout selection sub-module.

FIG. 22B is an exemplary GUI window that may be provided by the workoutselection sub-module. This GUI window may display plan workouts andcustom workouts available to the athlete 100, as well as a free workoutoption and an assessment workout option, which are described in furtherdetail below. In one embodiment, some indication will be given to theathlete 100 that they are scheduled to perform one or more of the listedplan or custom workouts on a given day. For example, as shown in FIG.22B, indicators 1102 may appear by certain plan or custom workouts toindicate that the athlete 100 is scheduled to perform that plan orcustom workout today.

As previously described, a user (who may or may not be the athlete 100)stationed at a remotely located personal computer 114 may use a web siteto plan and schedule a prospective physical activity. As illustrated inFIGS. 12-16, the user may utilize the plan module 300 and schedulemodule 400 to plan and schedule one or more prospective physicalactivities. For example, the user may select a training plan comprisedof individual workouts, which may be saved and scheduled on a calendar402 on the server 112. The user may also create, save, and optionallyschedule custom workouts on the server 112. Alternatively, anathlete-user 100 may plan and schedule planned workouts and/or create,save, and schedule custom workouts by accessing the website directlyfrom their portable fitness monitoring device 102. In one embodiment,the version of the accessible from the athlete's portable fitnessmonitoring device may be simplified or otherwise modified to optimize itfor display on a relatively small screen.

In an embodiment, upon initiation of the workout selection sub-modulevia the portable fitness monitoring device 102, the list of availableplan workouts and custom workouts may be updated by syncing to trainingplan, plan workout, and custom workout data available on the server 112.In other words, the portable fitness monitoring device 102 and theserver 112 may communicate training plan, plan workout, and customworkout data via the network 110, for example, using the WWANtransceiver 128 of the portable fitness monitoring device 102. In oneembodiment, plan workout and custom workout data, such as plan or customworkout routines, may be stored in the memory 122 of the portablefitness monitoring device 102.

FIG. 23 illustrates a sequences of actions that the workout selectionsub-module may initiate after an icon corresponding to the go module1100 is selected from the home page, according to one embodiment of thepresent invention. First, at step 1104, the available plans and customworkout routines may be updated by syncing to server 112. Next, at step1106, the various workout routine types (e.g. plan workouts, customworkouts, a free workout, and an assessment workout) may be presented tothe athlete 100 via the display 132 of the portable fitness monitoringdevice 102. The athlete 100 may then select one of the workout typesusing the user input controls 124. Finally, at steps 1108-1114, theathlete 100 may be prompted to chose their desired settings for avariety of different options including coaching options, satellitepositioning system options, live tracking options, and/or music options,which are described in further detail below.

FIGS. 24A-24D are exemplary GUI windows that may be displayed by theworkout selection sub-module 1110 when the athlete selects a particulartraining plan. In FIG. 24A, the athlete 100 has highlighted and mayselect the “Speedster Plan” training plan using the user input controls124 of the portable fitness monitoring device 102. Prior to the activityand prior to any syncing, the Speedster Plan may have been created andscheduled by a user using the server plan module 300 and the serverschedule module 400 via a remote computer 114, as described above.

FIG. 24B is an exemplary GUI window that may be displayed by the workoutselection sub-module 1110 after the athlete 100 selects the SpeedsterPlan. FIG. 24B lists several individual workout routines in theSpeedster Plan. In an embodiment, only individual workouts scheduled forthe present day may be listed. In another embodiment, past and/or futureindividual workouts may also be listed. In some embodiments, someindication will be given to the athlete 100 that they are to perform oneor more of the listed plan or custom workouts today. For example, asshown in FIG. 24B, an indicator 1102 may appear next to a particularplan workout.

FIG. 24C is an exemplary GUI window that may be displayed by the workoutselection sub-module after the athlete 100 selects a particularindividual workout routine from the Speedster Plan. As shown in FIGS.24B and 24C, each individual workout routine may be represented by azone bar indicator 320, similar to that discussed above with respect tothe server schedule module 400. The zone bar indicator 320 maycommunicate several pieces of information. It may indicate the number ofintervals to be performed in a workout routine comprised of trainingintervals. It may also indicate the relative intensities of eachinterval to be performed, based on, for example, a target pace, speed,or heart rate zone, as indicated by a color. The GUI window may alsoindicate the duration the individual workout routine. Specifically, ascan be seen in FIG. 24C, the selected workout routine consists ofalternating blue zone and yellow zone intervals and is 40 minutes inlength.

The exemplary GUI window shown in FIG. 24C may also include buttons,switches, drop-down menus, or other GUI elements for selecting voicecoaching, satellite positioning system, and live tracking options.

Voice coaching generally refers to verbal instructions, feedback, orencouragement provide audibly to the athlete 100 during the activity, asdescribed in further detail below. A workout selection sub-module mayallow the athlete 100 to determine the level of voice coaching theywould like to receive—if any. For example, in one embodiment, theathlete 100 may select between no coaching, passive coaching, or activecoaching.

“No coaching” may refer to a situation where voice coaching is entirelyabsent or silenced during the activity.

“Passive coaching” may refer to a situation where the athlete 100receives voice coaching only at the beginning of a new traininginterval. For example, an athlete 100 who is to begin a green zonetraining interval may receive coaching that states “increase yourintensity to reach the green zone.” If the training plan workout callsfor the athlete 100 to begin a yellow zone interval after the green zoneinterval, at the beginning of the yellow zone interval athlete 100 mayreceive coaching that states “You have completed a green zone interval.Increase your intensity to enter the yellow zone.”

“Active coaching” may refer to a situation where in addition to (orinstead of) receiving voice coaching at the beginning of a new traininginterval, the athlete 100 receives reactive voice coaching throughoutthe interval. Specifically, the voice coaching may be responsive toperformance information detected by sensors 104 of the portable fitnessmonitoring device 102. Thus, for example, feedback may be based oninformation detected by a heart rate monitor for a workout routinecomprised of heart rate-based zones, or feedback may be based oninformation detected by a positioning system receiver 126 used tocalculate speed or pace for a workout routine comprised of speed-basedor pace-based zones. For example, if the athlete 100 should be in themiddle of their first green zone interval but is only maintaining a bluezone intensity, the portable fitness monitoring device 102 may announce“your intensity is only at a blue zone level, increase your intensity toenter the green zone.”

Workout selection sub-module may also allow the athlete 100 to determinethe whether the positioning system receiver 126, such as a GPS receiver,should be enabled or disabled. In one embodiment, the portable fitnessmonitoring device 102 includes a GPS receiver that may be used todetermine that athlete's 100 location, distance traveled, speed, andpace at various locations as the athlete 100 traverses a route. In otherembodiments, a GPS receiver may not be present. Even if a GPS receiveris present, the athlete 100 may chose to disable it because, forexample, the athlete 100 intends to workout indoors, workout onstationary equipment, or because the portable fitness device 102 is lowon power. In an embodiment, the athlete 100 may also be able to enableor disable other sensors such as heart rate monitors oraccelerometer-based sensors.

Workout selection sub-module may further allow the athlete 100 todetermine whether live tracking should be enabled or disabled. “Livetracking” refers to the ability of a remote user other than the athlete100 to track the athlete's 100 location in real time during theactivity. As explained in further detail elsewhere, in an embodiment,the portable fitness monitoring device 102 may be able to wirelesslycommunicate location-based information to the server 112 via the network110 in real-time via the WWAN 128 or WPAN 130 transceiver. Thus, userswith access to this data on the server 112 (either stationed at a remotecomputer 114 or carrying a portable fitness monitoring device 102) maybe able to view one or more athlete's 100 locations, for example,superimposed on a map. Some athlete's 100 may chose to disable livetracking, for example, because of privacy concerns.

FIG. 24D is an exemplary GUI window that may be provided by the workoutselection sub-module of the application software after the athlete 100has selected voice coaching, satellite positioning system, and/or livetracking options. This GUI window may present music options, which mayinclude selecting no music, selecting from various pre-set playlists ofmusic tracks, or selecting an option to shuffle or randomly play musictracks. In an embodiment, the athlete 100 may be able to select aplaylist based on one or more paces, speeds, stride rates, or heartrates associated with the playlist or the tracks that makeup theplaylist. In one embodiment, individual music tracks and/or playlistsmay be stored on the server 112 or a remote personal computer 114 anddownloaded to the portable fitness monitoring device 102. In anembodiment, the individual music tracks and/or playlists may besimultaneously downloaded to the portable fitness monitoring device 102with one or more individual workout routines of a training plan.

After the athlete 100 desiring to partake in a training plan workout hasmade their selections regarding any available options in response toprompts from the workout selection sub-module, the workout recordingsub-module of the go module 1100 may initiate execution of the planworkout routine and begin recording.

As indicated above, however, an athlete 100 may not desire to partake ina training plan workout and may instead prefer to engage in a customworkout. As previously described, a user stationed at a remotely locatedpersonal computer 114 may use a website to build a custom workout.Alternatively, the athlete 100 may access the website directly fromtheir portable fitness monitoring device 102 to build a custom workout.The steps for selecting a custom workout routine and choosing theappropriate options are similar to those outlined with respect to FIGS.23 and 24A-24D. FIGS. 25A-25D illustrate a series of exemplary GUIwindows that may be displayed by the workout selection sub-module whenthe athlete selects custom workout routine. After the athlete 100desiring to partake in a custom workout has made their selectionsregarding any available options in response to prompts from the workoutselection sub-module, the workout recording sub-module of the go module1100 may initiate the execution of a custom workout routine and beginrecording.

If, however, the athlete 100 not desire to partake in either a trainingplan workout or a custom workout, they may choose to engage in a freeworkout. A “free workout” may refer to a situation where no plan orcustom performance goals are provided and, thus, where voice coaching isentirely absent during the activity. Because voice coaching is entirelyabsent, voice coaching options are not presented prior to beginning afree workout. After the athlete desiring to partake in a free workouthas made their selections regarding any available options in response toprompts from the workout selection sub-module, the workout recordingsub-module of the go module 1100 may initiate the free workout and beginrecording.

In one embodiment of the present invention, instead of selecting atraining plan, custom, or free workout when presented with the optionvia a GUI window such as that depicted in FIG. 22B, the athlete 100 maybe able to select an “assessment workout.” An assessment workout may beused by the fitness monitoring system to assess the relative fitnesslevel of the athlete 100, and/or to establish or modify the athlete's100 performance zones for one or more parameters (e.g. pace, speed, orheart rate zones), as disclosed in commonly owned U.S. patentapplication Ser. No. 12/467,948, titled “Portable Fitness MonitoringSystems with Displays, and Applications Thereof,” which has previouslybeen incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.

As illustrated in FIG. 26, in an embodiment, the portable fitnessmonitoring device 102 may provide instructions for conducting theassessment workout to the athlete 100, may begin the assessment workout,may monitor the athlete's 100 performance, and may end the assessmentworkout.

For example, during an assessment workout, the athlete 100 may beprompted to, for example, run as fast as possible for two minutes. Theportable fitness monitoring device 102 would then be capable ofmeasuring or estimating the athlete's 100 maximum heart rate or maximumspeed based on the actual heart rate or speeds detected during theassessment exercise.

Alternatively, the assessment workout may prompt the athlete 100 to, forexample, run at certain percentages of their maximum speed for setperiods of time, as subjectively estimated by the athlete 100. Forexample, the assessment workout may prompt the athlete 100 to try toconsistently run at 50%, 75%, and 100% of their maximum speed forconsecutive 1 minute periods.

This information, in turn, could be used alone or in combination withpersonal information, such as the athlete's 100 age, height, weight,and/or sex, to establish or modify the athlete's 100 performance zonesfor one or more parameters. FIG. 27 is an exemplary GUI window that maybe provided by the workout selection sub-module of the go module 1100after the athlete 100 has conducted their assessment workout and pace,speed, and/or heart rate performance zones have been established ormodified. In an embodiment, different zone ranges may be provided fordifferent activities, such as running or biking.

In one embodiment of the present invention, assessment workoutperformance information may be sent to the server 112, which also mayhave access to personal information such as the athlete's 100 age,height, weight, and/or sex, for processing and calculation of theperformance zones. In another embodiment, such processing may be done bya processor of the portable fitness monitoring device 102.

After the athlete 100 desiring to partake in a training plan, custom,free, or assessment workout has made their selections regarding anyavailable options in response to prompts from the workout selectionsub-module, the workout recording sub-module of the go module 1100 mayinitiate the workout and begin recording.

Prior to beginning a training plan, custom, free, or assessment workout,the athlete 100 may position the portable fitness monitoring device 102.The portable fitness monitoring device 102 may be worn, carried, orotherwise supported by the athlete 100 during the physical activity. Theportable fitness monitoring device 102 may also attach to a piece ofexercise equipment such as a road bike traveling on a bike path or astationary bike in the gym. If necessary, one or more sensors 104 notintegrally connected to or included within the portable fitnessmonitoring device 102 that communicate with the portable fitnessmonitoring device 102 may also need to be worn, carried, or otherwisesupported by the athlete 100.

FIGS. 28A, 28B, 29A-29C, and 30A-30D are exemplary GUI windows that maybe displayed by the workout recording application software sub-moduleafter the athlete 100 has chosen to begin a workout according to variousembodiments of the present invention.

FIGS. 28A and 28B are exemplary GUI windows that may be displayed by theworkout recording sub-module executing a workout routine when theathlete 100 is conducting a planned or custom workout that includescolor-coded speed-based zone intervals. During a workout, the athlete100 may toggle between screens corresponding to FIGS. 28A and 28B bymanipulating the appropriate user input controls 124. In an embodiment,the screens corresponding to FIGS. 28A and/or 28B may automaticallyappear at a particular time (e.g. the screen corresponding to FIG. 28Bmay appear when the athlete 100 is in the proper zone).

As shown in FIGS. 28A and 28B and as described above, a header 1002 maybe present near one of the edges of a GUI windows. In addition, messagesection 1116 may also be present. In FIGS. 28A and 28B, the messagesection 1116 presents the track name and artist name corresponding tothe music track the athlete 100 is currently listening to. In otherembodiments, the message section 1116 may present coaching,encouragement, or other messages provided by the portable fitnessmonitoring service software, or provided by a coach or friend in realtime, for example, via a text message.

Because FIGS. 28A and 28B are representative of a situation where theworkout routine includes color-coded zone intervals, a progress bar 1118may be displayed. The progress bar 1118 may be similar to the zone barindicator 320 that may be associated with a particular workout routine,as described above. In addition to displaying the various color-codedzone intervals of the present workout, the progress bar 1118 may alsoinclude a moving progress mark 1120 indicative of where the athlete 100presently is in their zone-based workout. For example, the progress mark1120 in FIG. 28A indicates that the athlete presently is in the thirdcolor-coded zone interval of their workout, which may be a blue zone.The progress mark 1120 may move along the progress bar 1118 as theathlete progresses through the workout and as the workout routine isexecuted. In addition, a cumulative workout total such as, for example,total workout time or total workout distance may be displayed. In FIG.28A, a total workout time of 16 minutes and 1 second is displayed.

Furthermore, because FIGS. 28A and 28B are representative of a situationwhere the athlete 100 is conducting a workout that includes at least onecolor-coded zone goal, a dynamic target bar 1122 may be displayed. Thedynamic target bar 1122 may include a left portion and a right portion.The right portion may correspond to the present color-coded zone goalfor the athlete 100, based on the current workout routine. The leftportion may correspond to the athlete's 100 presently detected and/ormeasured performance information, as it relates to the present workoutroutine color-coded zone goal. For example, in FIG. 28A, the rightportion of the dynamic target bar 1122 may display a speed range of 7.0miles per hour to 6.0 miles per hour, which may correspond to a bluezone. The left portion of the dynamic target bar 1122 may display acurrent athlete 100 speed of 8.2 miles per hour, which may correspond toa yellow zone. Because the athlete 100 is currently exercising at ahigher intensity (e.g. yellow vs. blue) that their current workoutroutine calls for, the dynamic target bar 1122 may provide an indicationto the athlete 100 that they need to decrease their intensity. Forexample, as illustrated in FIG. 28A, the left portion of the dynamictarget bar 1122 may be raised above the right portion, and may include adown arrow indicating that the athlete 100 should decrease theirintensity.

As described in further detail elsewhere, various color-coded zone-basedsystems may be employed and zones may be based on a variety of otherparameters besides speed. In addition, if the athlete 100 has selectedactive coaching via the workout selection sub-module of the go-module1100, the portable fitness monitoring device 102 may provide audiblefeedback to complement or replace the visual feedback provided by thedynamic target bar 1122. For example, in the situation described aboveand depicted in FIG. 28A, the portable fitness monitoring device 102 mayannounce “your intensity is at a yellow zone level, decrease yourintensity to enter the blue zone.”

As indicated above, during execution of a workout routine, the athlete100 may toggle between screens corresponding to FIGS. 28A and 28B bymanipulating the appropriate user input controls 124. In contrast to theGUI of FIG. 28A, the GUI of FIG. 28B presents summary numericalinformation for multiple performance parameters, but does not includeeither a progress bar 1118 or a dynamic target bar 1122. For example, inFIG. 28B, elapsed time, total calories burned, total distance traversed,and average speed are presented.

While FIG. 28A illustrates a dynamic target bar 1122 in a situationwhere the athlete's 100 intensity is too high, similar GUI elements maybe presented by workout recording sub-module of the go module 1100 toindicate that the athlete's 100 intensity is either correct or too low.For example, FIGS. 29A-29C illustrate dynamic target bars 1122 insituations where the athlete's pace is too low, too high, and correct,respectively. Each of FIGS. 29A-29C indicate that the target pace rangeis between seven and eight minutes per mile, which may correspond to agreen zone. Thus, the right portion of the dynamic target bars 1122 maybe green. In FIG. 29A the left portion of the dynamic target bar 1122may be blue to represent a slow pace, in FIG. 29B the left portion ofthe dynamic target bar 1122 may be yellow to represent a fast pace, andin FIG. 29C the left portion of the dynamic target bar 1122 may be greento represent a correct pace.

FIGS. 30A and 30B are exemplary GUI windows that may be provided by theworkout recording software application sub-module when the athlete 100is conducting a planned or custom workout that includes at least onecolor-coded zone goal, but when the planned or custom workout routinedoes not include a series of color-coded pace-based zone intervals. TheGUI windows of FIGS. 30A and 30B are similar to those of FIG. 28A inthat both include similar dynamic target bars 1122, though those ofFIGS. 30A and 30B relate to pace while those of FIG. 28A relate tospeed. Unlike FIG. 28A, which includes a multi-colored, multi-intervalprogress bar 1118, FIGS. 30A and 30B include a progress bar 1118 capableof providing different information.

For example, in FIG. 30A, the progress bar 1118 may include a blackregion that will advance from left to right across the progress bar 1118that represents the athlete's 100 elapsed time in progress to achievinga total time goal. As illustrated in FIG. 30A, a stopwatch icon to theleft of the progress bar 1118 may indicate the to athlete 100 thatelapsed time is the variable tracked by the progress bar 1118. On theother hand, in FIG. 30B, the progress bar 1118 may include a blackregion that will advance from left to right across the progress bar 1118that represents the athlete's 100 distance traversed in progress toachieving a total distance goal. As illustrated in FIG. 30B, a road iconto the left of the progress bar 1118 may indicate the to athlete 100that distance traversed is the variable tracked by the progress bar1118. In both the embodiments of FIGS. 30A and 30B, a total elapsed timeof 16 minutes and 48 seconds is displayed.

FIGS. 30C and 30D are exemplary GUI windows that may be provided by theworkout recording sub-module when the athlete 100 is conducting aplanned or custom workout that includes a goal that is not a color-codedzone goal. For example, in the embodiment of FIG. 30C the athlete's 100goal may be a time goal of 1 hour and 30 minutes. In this embodiment, astopwatch icon to the left of the progress bar 1118 may indicate the toathlete 100 that elapsed time is the variable tracked by the progressbar 1118. As another example, in the embodiment of FIG. 30D theathlete's 100 goal may be a distance goal of 8 miles. In thisembodiment, a road icon to the left of the progress bar 1118 mayindicate the to athlete 100 that distance traversed is the variabletracked by the progress bar 1118. FIG. 30D also indicates that theathlete 100 has presently traversed a distance of 2.24 miles.

In some embodiments of the present invention, if an athlete 100 isconducting a free workout, as described above, similar GUI interfaces asthose depicted in FIGS. 28A, 28B, 29A-29C, and 30A-30D may still bedisplayed. In other embodiments, an athlete 100 is conducting a freeworkout, such GUI interfaces may not be displayed.

As indicated above, a header 1002 may be present near one of the edgesof a GUI window of the present invention. In an embodiment, while theathlete 100 is conducting and recording a workout, the header 1002 mayinclude a map icon 1124 and/or a music icon 1126, as illustrated inFIGS. 31A and 32A.

During a workout, the athlete 100 may desire to obtain an indication oftheir present location with respect to a map. Upon actuating the mapicon 1124 illustrated in FIG. 31A using the user input controls 124, theworkout recording sub-module of the go module 1100 may present a GUIwindow such as that illustrated in FIG. 31B, which includes a visualindication of the present location of the athlete 100 on a map. Locationinformation for the athlete 100 may be based in part on location signalsreceived by the positioning system receiver 126 (e.g. a GPS receiver) ofthe portable fitness monitoring device 102.

During the workout, the athlete 100 may also desire to view thepresently selected music playlist and/or select a different music track.Upon actuating the music icon 1126 illustrated in FIG. 32A using theuser input controls 124, the workout recording sub-module of the gomodule 1100 may present a GUI window such as that illustrated in FIG.32B, which includes an interface for viewing the presently selectedmusic playlist and/or selecting a different music track, such as thoseinterfaces known by those of skill in the art.

In an embodiment of the present invention, throughout the course of theworkout, the athlete 100 may be able to pause the workout to temporarilycease performance parameter information recording. The athlete 100 mayalso be able to end the workout before the goal(s) of the workout havebeen entirely met.

While the visual and tactile interaction with the system of the presentinvention has been described above primarily in the context of thedisplay screen 132 and user input controls 124 of the portable fitnessmonitoring device 102, in an embodiment, at least some of the visual andtactile interaction between the athlete 100 and the system may occur viaa wristband or wrist watch, such as those described above with referenceto FIG. 2.

For example, a wristband may be capable of displaying performanceparameter information in a graphical or numerical way or color-codedperformance zone related information. In one embodiment, the wristbandmay be capable of displaying performance parameter information in agraphical or numerical way such as, for example, a numerical heart ratenumber on a seven-segment LCD display. In another embodiment, a coloremitted by the wristband that corresponds to a particular pace, speed,or heart rate zone may change in character in response to changes in themeasured pace, speed, or heart rate occurring within the zone. It mayalso be possible to use the wristband to receive alerts, control musicfunctions, or to pause workout recording. Other visual and tactileinteractions between the athlete 100 and the system of the presentinvention using a wristband or wristwatch may be possible, such as thoseinteractions disclosed in commonly owned U.S. patent application Ser.No. 12/467,948, titled “Portable Fitness Monitoring Systems withDisplays and Applications Thereof,” which has previously beenincorporated herein by reference in its entirety.

In one embodiment, the athlete 100 may use the user input controls 124of the portable fitness monitoring device 102 or the user input controls124 of the wristband to annotate a location on their route as theathlete 100 is traversing the route. For example, when the athlete 100actuates a particular button, the portable fitness monitoring device 102may annotate the data record associated with a GPS waypoint associatedwith the athlete's 100 location at the time of the actuation. In anotherembodiment, the portable fitness monitoring device 102 may be capable ofreceiving input from a microphone so that the athlete 100 may audiblyannotate a location on their route as the athlete 100 is traversing theroute. Such annotations may be useful, for example, for logging thelocation of points of interest or experiences. For example, the athlete100 may record voice annotations such as “there's a water fountain here”or “this point in the hill is challenging.” In a further embodiment, theportable fitness monitoring device 102 may be capable of receiving inputfrom a keyboard or taking a photo or a video clip to annotate a locationon their route as the athlete 100 is traversing the route.

When the athlete 100 completes the workout or chooses to end the workoutearly, the workout recording sub-module of the go module 1100 may promptthe athlete 100 to save or discard the recorded performance informationassociated with the workout. If the athlete 100 decides to save theirrecorded performance information, a summary of their performance may bedisplayed.

FIG. 33A is an exemplary GUI window that may be displayed by the workoutrecording software application sub-module to provide summary informationimmediately post-workout. For example, FIG. 33A indicates that theathlete 100 conducted the workout for 17 minutes and 20 seconds,traveled 3 miles, burned 378 calories, and maintained an average pace of6 minutes and 49 seconds per mile.

In an embodiment of the present invention, the athlete 100 may choose toconduct a workout without the use of a positioning system receiver. Inother embodiments of the present invention, the athlete 100 may chooseto conduct a workout without the use of other portable sensors 104 suchas a portable heart rate monitor or a portable pedometer. In embodimentswhere certain information has not been recorded by portable sensors 104but the athlete 100 is still able to record or otherwise calculate theseparameters via alternative means, the workout recording sub-module mayprompt the athlete 100 to enter the missing information to complete theworkout summary information. For example, an athlete 100 may chose torun indoors on a treadmill without using a GPS receiver or otherportable sensors capable of providing time, distance, pace, heart rate,and/or calorie information. However, if the treadmill itself providesmeasured, calculated, or estimate values for these parameters that aredisplayed to the athlete 100, the athlete 100 may manually enter theminto the portable fitness monitoring device 102. In another embodiment,the measured, calculated, or estimate values may automatically betransmitted to the portable fitness monitoring device 102. Measured,calculated, or estimate values for at least one type of parameter may benecessary if the athlete 100 is executing a workout routine that isbased upon one or more color-coded zones based upon that parameter. Forexample, if the athlete 100 is conducting a pace zone based workoutwhile running on a treadmill, the treadmill (or a sensor worn by theathlete 100) must be capable of providing feedback regarding theathlete's 100 pace.

After reviewing summary information (either provided by the portablefitness monitoring device 102 or manually entered by the athlete 100),the athlete 100 may be provided with several other options by theportable fitness monitoring device 102. In one embodiment, asillustrated by FIG. 33B, the athlete 100 may be asked to rate theworkout that they just completed, as described in further detail below.For example, the athlete 100 may be able to assign a subjective ratingto the workout on a one to five star scale, with more starscorresponding to a better rating.

In another embodiment, as illustrated in FIGS. 33C and 33D, the athlete100 may be able to associate one or more notes with the workout theyjust completed, as described in further detail below. For example, theathlete 100 may be able to select from one or more default note options,such as those listed in FIG. 33C. Alternatively, as illustrated in FIG.33D, the athlete 100 may be able to enter their own custom note for theworkout using the appropriate user interface controls 124 of theportable fitness monitoring device 102. In yet another embodiment, theathlete 100 may be able to associate a photo or a video clip with theworkout they just completed.

In one embodiment of the present invention, the athlete 100 may be ableto associate a particular activity type with the record of the workout.For example, the athlete 100 may be able to indicate that he had justengaged in, for example, walking, running, cycling, cross-countryskiing, inline skating. For planned workouts for particular types ofactivities, the type of activity may automatically be associated withthe record of the workout. However, because free workouts may not beassociated with a particular type of activity ahead of time, it may benecessary for the athlete 100 to manually make the association.Association of a particular activity type with the record of the workoutmay advantageously allow for more precise data analysis, feedback, andcoaching based on the particular type of activity.

In a further embodiment, the athlete 100 may be able to associate aparticular pair of shoes that the athlete 100 wore during the workoutwith the record of the workout. In one embodiment, after an appropriateprompt from the track module 1200 software application module, theathlete 100 may manually associate a particular pair of shoes with theworkout using the user interface controls 124 of the portable fitnessmonitoring device 102. In another embodiment, the portable fitnessmonitoring device 102 may be able to automatically detect which pair ofshoes were being worn during the activity by detecting the presence ofan identifier in one or both of the shoes, such as a specific radiofrequency identification (RFID) chip in one or both of the shoes.

As is known by those of skill in the art, passive RFID systems work byemploying a reader and a chip. A scanning antenna of the reader emitsradio-frequency signals in a relatively short range. Theseradio-frequency signals communicate with the RFID chip and provide thechip with the energy to engage in the communication. When an RFID chippasses through the field of the scanning antenna of the reader, the chipdetects the activation signal from the antenna, wakes up, and ittransmits the information stored on the chip to be picked up by thereader. Thus, in the context of embodiments of the present invention, aRFID chip in a particular shoe or pair of shoes may be able tocommunicate information with a nearby portable fitness monitoring device102.

As described in further detail below, at a later time, a listing of eachpair of shoes the athlete 100 has associated with one or more workouts,along with a cumulative distance that the athlete 100 has traversedwhile wearing each pair of shoes, may be presented. Athletes 100 mayadvantageously use this information to determine when a particular pairmay need to be replaced, or to determine how particular pairs of shoeshave affected the athlete's 100 performance.

After reviewing summary information and after annotating the workoutrecord with any additional information, as described above, the portablefitness monitoring device 102 may either save the complete workoutrecord locally or transmit it to the server 112, as described in furtherdetail elsewhere.

In one embodiment, upon successful upload of a complete workout recordto the server 112, the portable fitness monitoring device 102 may promptthe athlete 100 to view more detailed analytical information about theathlete's 100 performance during the workout. As illustrated in FIG.34A, the workout recording sub-module of the go module 1100 may presenta GUI window that provides encouragement or other feedback to theathlete 100 along with the option to review the detailed analyticalinformation. If the athlete 100 opts to review the detailed analyticalinformation, they may be presented with a GUI window similar to thatdepicted in FIG. 34B by track module 1200, as described in furtherdetail below.

The various steps taken by the workout recording sub-module of the gomodule 1100 of the application software of one embodiment of the presentinvention may be summarized by the flow chart of FIG. 35. At step 1128,the workout recording sub-module initiates recording of performanceinformation by the portable fitness monitoring device 102. At step 1130,the workout recording sub-module initiates saving of the performanceinformation by the portable fitness monitoring device 102. At step 1132,the workout recording sub-module presents a performance informationsummary to the athlete 100. At steps 1134-1138, the workout recordingsub-module presents rating, note, and shoe tracking options to theathlete 100. At step 1140, the workout recording sub-module initiatesthe sending of the workout performance information to the server 112.Finally, at step 1142, the workout recording sub-module initiates thereceiving of the detailed analytical information about the workout fromthe server 112.

E. EXEMPLARY POST-ACTIVITY DATA PROCESSING AND FEEDBACK ASPECTS

In some embodiments of the present invention, after the athlete 100 hasengaged in a physical activity, a user (who may or may not be theathlete 100) may access a web site provided by the server 112 from aremotely located personal computer 114 to review detailed analyticalinformation about the athlete's 100 activity. As previously explained,the personal computer 114 may be, for example, a desktop, laptop, ortablet computer.

However, as described above, in an embodiment, the portable fitnessmonitoring device 102 itself may also serve as the personal computer114. Thus, for example, the athlete 100 may be able to review detailedanalytical information about the activity from the portable fitnessmonitoring device 102 itself after the athlete 100 has engaged in aphysical activity. While the description that follows primarilydescribes the presentation of detailed analytical information in thecontext of presentation from the server 112 to a user stationed at apersonal computer 114 such as a desktop, laptop, or tablet computer,information may also be presented via the portable fitness monitoringdevice 102 itself to the athlete 100. Thus, while figures of exemplaryGUIs suitable at least for display on a personal computer 114 such as adesktop computer are provided, these figures are supplemented withexemplary GUIs suitable at least for display on a portable fitnessmonitoring device 102.

As explained above with reference to FIG. 8, the application software ofthe server 112 may include a number of different modules capable ofproviding fitness monitoring services to athletes 100. In one embodimentof the present invention, these modules include a track module 500. Thetrack module 500 allows the users to review and analyze an athlete's 100past performance data. After completing a workout and uploadingperformance data to the server 112, the athlete 100 may log in to theserver 112 to review and analyze their past performance data.

In one embodiment, for each completed workout routine, a workout journalpage may list the date the workout was completed, the name of theworkout, and one or more performance details about the workout. Forexample, the workout journal page may list the elapsed time of theworkout, the calories burned during the workout, the distance coveredduring the workout, the athlete's 100 average heart rate during theworkout, the athlete's 100 average pace during the workout, theathlete's 100 average stride rate during the workout, a subjectiveathlete 100 rating of the workout and/or route, an automatic computerrating of the workout and/or route, the type of activity the athlete 100conducted, and any other notes the athlete 100 wishes to record. Theparticular information displayed on the workout journal page may be setby the system or customized by the user.

As described above with reference to FIG. 33B, the subjective rating maybe assigned by the athlete 100 immediately after the workout iscompleted, or at a later time. In one embodiment, the athlete 100 mayrate a workout on a one to five star scale, with a one star workoutbeing a poor workout and a five star workout being an excellent workout.In one embodiment, the athlete 100 rating may be entirely subjective.Alternatively, the rating may be assigned by track module 500objectively, based on various recorded performance parameters from theworkout, historical athlete 100 performance, and/or user settings andoptions. For example, an objective route difficulty rating may beassigned to the workout based on one or more of route length, elevationchanges over the route, altitude of the route, temperature during theathletic performance, humidity during the athletic performance, windspeed during the athletic performance, and wind direction during theathletic performance.

The athlete 100 notes may also be assigned by the athlete 100immediately after the workout is complete, as described above withreference to FIGS. 33C and 33D, or at a later time. Athlete 100 notesmay include, for example, explanations of a rating assigned to theworkout, or other subjective or objective observations about theworkout, the athlete's 100 condition, the environment the workout wasconducted in, or the route traversed.

In addition to (or in place of) being able to review and analyze pastperformance data via the workout journal page, the user may be able toselect an icon capable of initiating a history sub-module. The historysub-module of the application software may be capable of displaying avariety of GUI windows to the user such as, for example, those shown inFIGS. 36-40.

FIG. 36 is an exemplary GUI window according to an embodiment of thepresent invention that may be presented by the history sub-module.History pages may include a dashboard 510, a primary display 512, and asidebar 514. The dashboard 510 may provide icons that are correlated toparticular performance parameters. Each icon itself may provideinformation about the performance parameters, and selecting a specificicon with a cursor may alter the information displayed by the primarydisplay 512. The sidebar 514 may provide additional information, icons,and/or options.

The information displayed on the history pages may be for a singleworkout or for a plurality of workouts falling within a particular daterange. Information may be displayed on a yearly, monthly, weekly, ordaily basis. The data range selected by the user may affect theinformation displayed by the dashboard 510 icons, the informationdisplayed on the primary display 512, as well as the content of thesidebar 514.

The dashboard 510 shown in FIG. 36 includes display icons for time,calories, distance, heart rate, pace, and stride rate. In an embodiment,a display icon for total elevational ascent may also be provided. Thenumerical information provided with the dashboard 510 icons correspondsto data associated with workouts from the date range selected. Forexample, as illustrated in FIG. 36, for the selected period of Jul. 27,2008, through Aug. 16, 2008, the user's total workout time was 52 hours,52 minutes, and 16 seconds. This value may also be provided incumulative and/or average form over the selected time period.

While the information provided by the dashboard 510 icons may remain thesame for a given date range, the information displayed by the primarydisplay 512 may change depending on which dashboard 510 icon the userhas selected. For example, in FIG. 36, because the user has selected theheart rate icon in the dashboard 510, the history sub-module 504displays heart rate information in the primary display 512.

While FIG. 36 shows the information displayed by the primary display 512in the form of bar graphs, other suitable graphical displays such as,for example, line graphs, pie graphs, race course representations,animations, or videos may be provided in addition to or in place of thebar graphs. Moreover, although only heart rate graphs have beenillustrated by FIG. 36, any performance parameters listed in thedashboard 510 may be graphically displayed in the primary display 512.For example, FIG. 37 illustrates an exemplary history page where paceinformation is displayed in the primary display 512 in bar graph form.

As shown in FIG. 36, when daily heart rate information is displayed inthe primary display 512 in bar graph form, the heart rate informationmay be conveyed based on the color-coded heart rate zone systemdescribed above with respect to FIG. 10. When daily, weekly, or monthlypace, stride rate, or other parameter information is displayed in theprimary display 512 in bar graph form, this information may or may notbe conveyed based on a color-coded zone system corresponding to theseother parameters.

As shown in FIG. 37, while only pace information is displayed in theprimary display 512 in bar graph form, other performance parameterinformation may be overlaid in bar graph form. For example, a heart ratebar graph may be overlaid or placed next to of the pace based graph sothat both parameters could be compared.

In one embodiment, an athlete 100 who wishes to obtain even morespecific information about a period of time displayed within the primarydisplay 512 may select the bar or other indicium representing theappropriate time period with their cursor (e.g. by clicking on the baror other indicium). For example, if the user viewing the daily GUIwindow of FIG. 36 wanted to obtain more specific information aboutworkouts conducted on Aug. 9, 2008, the user 100 could select the barrepresenting that day, which may result in the history sub-moduledisplaying the daily GUI window shown in FIG. 38.

The history display shown in FIG. 38 is similar to the display shown inFIG. 36 in that the dashboard 510, primary display 512, and sidebar 514are still present. However, FIG. 38 differs from FIG. 36 in thatinformation provided in both the dashboard 510 and the primary display512 is only associated with a single workout day. Additionalfunctionality may also provided by the sidebar 514.

Similarly, the history display shown in FIG. 39 is similar to thedisplay shown in FIG. 38, except that FIG. 39 illustrates an exemplaryhistory page where pace information is displayed instead of heart rateinformation.

In one embodiment of the present invention, as shown in FIG. 38, thehistory sub-module may provide a feedback 518 section in the sidebar514. The feedback section may provide feedback from coaches, friends, orother users authorized to provide feedback to the athlete 100. All usersof the system of the present invention having similar accounts throughserver 112 may be authorized to provide feedback to the athlete 100.Alternatively, only users of the system that are specifically authorizedby the athlete 100 may provide feedback to the athlete 100. In anembodiment, users who are linked to the athlete 100 via a socialnetworking site may also provide feedback to the athlete 100. Feedbackmay be provided through a GUI provided by sever 112, via email, via textmessage, via voice mail, or by any other suitable means known in theart. Feedback may be listed sequentially in the order that the feedbackwas posted, much like comments associated with a blog entry or other webarticle, as is known by those of skill in the art.

The history sub-module may also provide a notes section in the sidebar514. The notes section may provide a section for a user rating and usernotes. These ratings and notes may be similar to those described abovewith reference to FIGS. 33B-D and 35.

The history sub-module may provide a route tools section in the sidebar514 that may be managed by a route tools software applicationsub-module, as described in further detail below.

In another embodiment of the present invention, the history sub-modulemay further provide a playlist section in the sidebar 514. If theathlete 100 conducted a workout while listening to music on amusic-enabled portable fitness monitoring device 102, the playlistsection may provide a listing of the musical audio tracks that theathlete 100 listened to during their workout.

In an embodiment, a particular play list may be associated with aparticular route plan or workout routine so that the play list may bedownloaded to the portable fitness monitoring device 102 simultaneouslywith the route plan and/or workout routine. Accordingly, the athlete 100may be able to easily execute the same (or substantially the same)workout routine and/or traverse the same route while listening to thesame play list. The athlete 100 could also fine tune their play listuntil the athlete 100 felt that the play list provided appropriateentertainment, motivation, or other benefits during the physicalactivity.

In one embodiment, the performance information to be displayed in theprimary display 512, based on the selected dashboard 510 icon, may bedisplayed on a line graph whose x-axis is either time or distance based,and whose y-axis is correlated to the value of the measured performanceparameter. For example, as shown in FIG. 38, a line graph charts heartrate information as a function of time during the workout. In FIG. 39, aline graph charts pace information as a function of time during theworkout.

Average lines may also be plotted parallel to the x-axis across thegraphs. For example, in FIG. 38, an average heart rate line representingthe athlete's 100 average heart rate of 155 beats per minute during theworkout is plotted across the graph.

A user interested in viewing instantaneous performance statistics overthe course of the workout may be able to select and drag a scrollbar 516with a cursor along the x-axis. As the user drags the scrollbar 516across the x-axis, an icon may travel along the line graph plotted forthe performance parameter of interest. In addition, a pop-up windowdisplaying additional instantaneous performance data may appear and moveacross the screen along with the moving icon. FIG. 40 is an illustrationof an icon and pop-up window containing instantaneous performanceparameter information being moved across a GUI screen by means of ascrollbar 516.

In an embodiment, the user may be able to manually correct any recordedparameters that they know are inaccurate. Inaccuracies may be due to,for example, errors with the sensors 104 employed by the portablefitness monitoring device 102 used by the athlete 100. A user maycorrect, for example, the distance the athlete 100 traveled during aworkout. The user may know the exact distance of a route routinelytraveled and wish to update a distance inaccurately recorded by adistance sensor 104.

In another embodiment, when a parameter, such as distance, is corrected,the system may recalibrate the recorded and stored data. For example,when the distance traversed for a particular activity is corrected, thedistance data and corresponding distance graph for that activity iscorrected. In addition, data and graphical displays that depend on thedistance data, such as pace data and graphical displays, are alsocorrected.

In a further embodiment, when a parameter, such as distance, iscorrected, this corrected data may be transmitted to the portablefitness monitoring device 102 the next time the device is incommunication with the network 112 so that the portable fitnessmonitoring device's 102 distance monitoring capability can berecalibrated, if necessary.

While these tracking features have been described primarily in thecontext of presentation from the server 112 to a user stationed at apersonal computer 114 such as a desktop, laptop, or tablet computer, inan embodiment of the present invention, GUIs providing information andfunctionalities similar to those provided by the GUIs depicted in FIGS.36-40 may be provided to the athlete 100 via the portable fitnessmonitoring device 102, such as a smart phone.

For example, FIG. 41A is an illustration of a home page GUI displayedvia the portable fitness monitoring device 102, where the athlete 100has highlighted an icon corresponding to the track module 1200application software module. The track module 1200 may include a workouthistory sub-module, an achievements sub-module, and a shoes sub-module.As explained in further detail below, certain aspects of the workouthistory sub-module of the track module 1200 of the portable fitnessmonitoring device may be similar to aspects of the history sub-module ofthe track module 500 of the server 112, as described above.

After the athlete selects the icon corresponding to the track module1200, the track module 1200 my present the athlete 100 with the optionof receiving additional information regarding workout histories,achievements, or shoes, as illustrated in FIG. 41B. When the athlete 100indicates that they would like to receive additional informationregarding workout histories, the workout history sub-module may presenta GUI such as the exemplary GUI window shown in FIG. 42A.

FIG. 42A lists several individual workouts accessible in the workouthistory of the portable fitness monitoring device 102. In an embodiment,only individual workouts recorded in the last week are listed. Inanother embodiment, only individual workouts recorded in the last monthare listed. The workout list may provide only limited statisticaldetails about each individual workout. As shown in FIG. 42A, anindividual workout comprised of color coded zone intervals may berepresented by a zone bar indicator 320, similar to that discussedabove. The GUI window may also indicate the duration of each individualworkout and the date that it was conducted. In an embodiment, the GUI ofFIG. 42A may be similar to the workout journal page that may be providedby the server 112 to a user stationed at a personal computer 114, asdescribed above.

FIG. 42B is an exemplary GUI window according to an embodiment of thepresent invention that may be displayed when the athlete 100 selects anindividual workout from the workout list of FIG. 42A. This GUI windowmay provide, for example, summary workout information and a route ratingas described above with respect to FIG. 34B. As illustrated in FIG. 42B,a drop down menu may be provided that allows the athlete 100 to requestadditional information regarding charts, routes, and other notes.

If the athlete 100 requests additional information regarding othernotes, information that the athlete 100 entered in response to theprompts described above at steps 1136 and 1138 of FIG. 35 regardinggeneral notes and shoes may be provided.

FIGS. 43A-43C illustrate an exemplary GUI window according to anembodiment of the present invention that may be displayed when theathlete 100 requests additional information regarding charts. Theworkout history sub-module of the track module 1200 application softwaremodule may display a window including a variety of different charts,statistics, and/or other graphics. Coaching notes may also be included.As the athlete 100 scrolls down the screen, the images illustrated inFIGS. 43A-43C may be presented. In one embodiment, graphs similar tothose illustrated in FIGS. 36-40 may be presented. In anotherembodiment, the graphs and charts presented may convey informationsimilar to that conveyed by the graphs of FIGS. 36-40, but the graphsand charts may be relatively less complex and more suitable for asmaller display screen of a portable fitness monitoring device 102.

Returning to the presentation of information from the server 112 to auser stationed at a personal computer 114 such as a desktop or laptopcomputer, in an embodiment of the present invention, graphicalrepresentations of the routes traversed by the athlete 100 duringindividual workouts may be presented to the user. As described above,the history sub-module of the track module 500 of the server 112 may becapable of presenting a route tools section in a sidebar 514 that may bemanaged by a route tools sub-module.

In one embodiment, the route tools sub-module may allow the user 100 toassociate specific routes with a workout when the workout involved thetraversal of a particular geographic pathway. In one embodiment, theroute tools sub-module may employ a web-based mapping serviceapplication, such as, for example, the Google Maps application providedby Google, Inc. of Mountain View, Calif. The mapping service applicationmay utilize an application programming interface that allows the mappingservice application, such as Google Maps, to be embedded into the GUIwindows of the present invention.

In one embodiment, the route tools sub-module may enable the user torecreate the path traversed by the athlete 100 during the workout byclicking, and/or dragging and dropping landmarks and paths over a streetmap using a cursor. The approximate area of the route may be found by,for example, entering a street address, a well-known landmark, or a zipcode into the mapping service application interface. Alternatively, inan embodiment, as illustrated in FIG. 44, the athlete 100 could conducttheir workout using a GPS-enabled portable fitness monitoring device 102capable of recording their geographic way points along the routetraversed. Either during traversal of the route or after the route hasbeen completed, the GPS data could then be uploaded to the server 112and associated with other performance monitoring information collectedduring traversal of the route. Thus, the route tools sub-module couldautomatically reconstruct the path traversed by the athlete 100. In anembodiment, as illustrated in FIG. 44, an route details box 552 mayprovide summary information about the route such as, for example,distance, rating, creation date, location, comments, notes, and/or otherrelevant information.

In one embodiment, a user interested in viewing instantaneousperformance statistics throughout the workout may be able to select anddrag a scrollbar 542 with their cursor along the x-axis. As the userdrags the scrollbar 542 across the x-axis, an icon 570 may travel alongthe route path plotted. In addition, a pop-up window displayingadditional instantaneous performance data may appear and move across thescreen along with the moving icon 570. FIG. 45 is an illustration of anicon 570 and pop-up window containing instantaneous performanceparameter information being moved across a GUI screen by means of ascrollbar 542. Thus, scrollbar 542 may function in a similar way toscrollbar 516 described above. In an embodiment, the scrollbar 542and/or the icon 570 may take the form of an active figure, such as arunner. In one embodiment, the user may be able to customize the imagesused for the scrollbar 542 and/or the icon 570 such as, for example,replacing the default icon with a personal avatar or other desiredimage.

As illustrated in FIG. 46, in another embodiment, the user may beprovided with a route view in which multiple performance parameters areconcurrently graphically presented in a banded format along a routepath. Like the embodiments of FIGS. 44 and 45, the user's route path maybe overlaid on a map, and performance parameters may be associated withparticular points along the route. In contrast the embodiments of FIGS.44 and 45, however, the route path may comprise a plurality of bands,each of which represents a performance parameter quantified at the GPSwaypoints recorded along the route.

In an embodiment, the value of the respective performance parameter maybe charted along route path utilizing color shade variation to representthe instantaneous quantity of the performance parameter at each pointalong the route. Thus, in FIG. 46, the different hatching applied toeach of the inner band 544, middle band 546, and outer band 548represents a different color and a varying spacing between the hatchesrepresents the display of the colors at varying levels of intensityalong the route path, depending upon the value of the parameters at eachpoint along the path. The value associated with each shade of color isgenerally graphically represented in an accompanying legend 550.

In one embodiment, instantaneous performance parameter data at any pointalong the route path is presented in response to hovering over the pointwith a cursor, or in response to the user actuating a scrollbar, such asscrollbar 542 described above with respect to FIG. 45.

A user may be able to manually add markers to locations along the routepath. In one embodiment, after the user adds two markers at twodifferent locations along the route path, the user may be able to “lock”the markers. When markers are locked, actuating the scrollbar 542 maycause synchronized movement of the markers. “Synchronized movement” mayrefer to a situation where each of the markers advances a set number ofGPS waypoints in response to a particular actuation of the scrollbar542. In this manner, the user may be able to graphically and intuitivelydefine an interval over which performance parameter information may beviewed. For example, a pop-up window displaying performance informationcorresponding to the interval defined by the two markers may appear andmove across the screen along with the scrollbar 542.

In one embodiment of the present invention, the route map may displaythe location of annotations provided by the athlete 100 during theroute, as previously described. Various icons or symbols correspondingto the locations of the annotations may be selected by the user. In thecase of audio annotations, the user may click on or otherwise select anicon corresponding to the location of the audio annotation to play theaudio annotation back to the user. Likewise, for photo- or video-basedannotations, the user may click on or otherwise select the appropriateicon to play the video clip or display the photo.

In another embodiment, in addition to or instead of allowing athletes100 to annotate a route during the activity, the user may be able to addannotations to the route while reviewing it after the activity has beencompleted. Based on the user's knowledge of the route, the user may addannotations corresponding to the locations of, for example, drinkingfountains, bathrooms, or other interesting features along the route.These annotations may consist of text, symbols, audio recordings, videoclips, and/or photos.

In an embodiment, the user may be able to manually correct any recordedGPS data that they know is inaccurate. Inaccuracies may be due to, forexample, GPS receiver timing, positional, and/or other errors, such asthose disclosed in commonly owned U.S. patent application Ser. No.12/569,492, titled “Program Products, Methods, and Systems for ProvidingLocation-Aware Fitness Monitoring Services,” which is incorporatedherein by reference in its entirety.

In embodiments where a predetermined route was assigned to the workoutprior to undertaking the activity, as described above with reference toFIG. 16, the route module 1500 may have had access to an elevationdatabase to obtain elevation corresponding to a particular route. Thisinformation may be used to supply elevation information for the routewhen conducting post-workout analysis. Accordingly, the elevationinformation supplied by the route module 1500 may be able to assist orreplace any elevation information provided by positioning systemreceiver 126 of the portable fitness monitoring device 102. Thus, in thecase of a GPS system, if less than four GPS satellites are acquired, orif the GPS receiver is not designed to process elevation information,the portable fitness monitoring device 102 can still determineelevation-dependent route and performance data regarding a routetraversed by athlete 100. Even if the route module 1500 did not have hadaccess to an elevation database prior to the workout, such a databasemay be accessed after the workout to supply the necessary information.

In another embodiment, the route tools sub-module of the applicationsoftware may allow the athlete 100 to create, store, share, and findroute plans of interest. The route plan, which may or may not beassociated with a particular workout routine, may be created or selectedthat specifies a particular route for the athlete 100 to travel. In anembodiment, the route plan may be downloaded to the portable fitnessmonitoring device 102. Athletes 100 may use route plans they themselveshave created and stored on the sever 112. In one embodiment, other usersmay post and share route plans with others via the server 112. Thus, aplurality of users 100 may be able to create, store, share, find, edit,rate, and comment on route plans of interest.

In one embodiment, the user may save and name a route or route planusing the route tools sub-module. In the embodiment of FIG. 44, as shownin the sidebar 514, the user has named and saved a plurality of routesor route plans to the server 112. In the event that a particular routeor route plan has not been automatically assigned to a given workoutrecord, the user may wish to select a route or route plan with thecursor to associate with their workout.

Saved routes or route plans may be displayed in primary display 512 ifthe user selects an appropriate icon. Route details such as the routename, distance, and location may be provided in a route details box 552GUI pop-up window. The user may also be able to assign a subjectiverating and include notes about the route. These features may beanalogous to the user rating and user notes features described above.

While these route-related features have been described primarily in thecontext of presentation from the server 112 to a user stationed at apersonal computer 114 such as a desktop or laptop computer, in anembodiment of the present invention, GUIs providing information andfunctionalities similar to those provided by the GUIs depicted in FIGS.44-46 may be provided to the athlete 100 via the portable fitnessmonitoring device 102.

For example, FIG. 47A is an exemplary GUI window according to anembodiment of the present invention that may be displayed when theathlete 100 carrying a portable fitness monitoring device 102 selects anindividual workout from a workout list, such as that depicted in FIG.42A. As illustrated in FIG. 47A, a drop down menu may be provided thatallows the athlete 100 to request additional information regardingroutes.

FIG. 47B illustrates an exemplary GUI window according to an embodimentof the present invention that may be displayed when the athlete 100requests additional information regarding routes. The workout historysub-module of the track module 1200 may display a window including adepiction of the route traversed by the athlete 100 during the workout.

In one embodiment, a route map similar to that illustrated in FIG. 44may be presented. In another embodiment, route map presented may conveyinformation similar to that conveyed by the route map of FIG. 44, butthe route map may be relatively less complex and more suitable for asmaller display screen of a portable fitness monitoring device 102.

In one embodiment, athletes 100 using portable fitness monitoringdevices 102 may share routes directly between their devices 102 (i.e.not via the route selection feature of the website, as described above).For example, one athlete 100 may send a route to another athlete 100 viaa text message or email message, regardless of the athletes' 100locations. Alternatively, if the athletes 100 and their portable fitnessmonitoring devices 102 are in close proximity to one another, they maybe able to share routes via WPAN transceivers and/or infraredtransmission systems. Thus, an athlete 100 may share a favorite routewith a friend.

Other route-related functionalities may be supported by the applicationsoftware of the server 112 for use with the portable fitness monitoringservices of the present invention. For example, in an embodiment, theportable fitness monitoring device 102 may be able to guide the athlete100 along a route, based on the route plan and, for example, theathlete's 100 current position based on GPS readings. For example, asthe athlete 100 is traversing a route, the portable fitness monitoringdevice 102 may audibly or visually command the athlete 100 to “turnright in 10 meters” or “turn right on Main St.”

In another embodiment, the route-related functionalities of the server112 may be utilized to support the “live tracking” options describedabove. “Live tracking” refers to the ability of a remote user other thanthe athlete 100 to track the athlete's 100 location in substantiallyreal time during the activity. As explained in further detail elsewhere,in an embodiment, the portable fitness monitoring device 102 may be ableto wirelessly communicate location-based information to the server 112via the network 110 in real-time via the WWAN 128 or WPAN 130transceiver. Thus, users with access to this data on the server 112 maybe able to view the athlete's 100 location, for example, superimposed ona map. In an embodiment, as depicted in FIG. 48, a plurality of athletes100 competing in a race and each utilizing GPS-enabled portable fitnessmonitoring devices 102 may be tracked in substantially real-time andtheir positions (554, 556, 558, 560, and 562) may be superimposed over aroute on a map. Users may be able to hover over or otherwise select anicon associated with a particular athlete, such as icon 554, and displayan information box 564 that displays current performance parameterinformation for that athlete 100.

Returning to the presentation of information from the server 112 to auser stationed at a personal computer 114 such as a desktop, laptop, ortablet computer, in an embodiment of the present invention, summaryinformation about the athlete's 100 workouts and training program may bepresented to the user.

More specifically, the track module 500 of the application software ofthe server 112 may provide a front page sub-module. FIG. 49 is anexemplary GUI window that may be displayed by the front page sub-moduleto a user stationed at a personal computer 114. The front page GUI mayinclude plan tracker 532, lifetime stats 534, last workout 536, nextworkout 538, and coach talk 540 sections. In an embodiment, the contentsof the front page may be customized and reordered similarly tocustomizable web portals such as, for example, the iGoogle web portalprovided by Google, Inc. of Mountain View, Calif.

The lifetime stats section 534 may provide text and/or icons that arecorrelated to particular cumulative or average lifetime performanceparameters. In this way information displayed by the lifetime statssection 534 on the front page may be somewhat similar to informationdisplayed by the dashboard 510 of the other history pages. Theparticular information displayed in the lifetime stats section 534 maybe set by the system or customized by the user. Various information maybe added or removed by the user as desired.

In an embodiment, the last workout section 536 displays stats for thelast workout completed by the athlete 100, and the next workout section538 displays information about upcoming planned workouts. Theinformation provided by the lifetime stats 534, last workout 536, andnext workout 538 sections may be similar to information provided to theuser by other modules and sub-modules, but may conveniently be providedon a single page. The coach talk section 540 may provide motivation,point out a particular area of focus, or otherwise provide guidance tothe athlete 100 related to the ultimate goal of their particular plan orworkout.

In one embodiment, the front page includes a plan tracker 532 section.The plan tracker 532 may graphically display an athlete's 100 plannedworkouts, the number of planned workouts completed, and the number ofplanned workouts remaining to be completed. For example, as shown inFIG. 49, the plan tracker 532 could include a series of icons or hashmarks that are each representative of an individual workout. Completed,and uncompleted workouts may be differentiated by color-coding, shading,or other visual indicia. The plan tracker 532 may provide indication(s)about whether the athlete 100 is meeting the specified goals for thecompleted workouts.

The particular information displayed in the plan tracker 532 section maybe set by the system or customized by the user. Various information maybe added or removed by the user as desired. An athlete 100 engaged inmultiple plans simultaneously (e.g. a running based plan and anon-running based plan) may choose to display multiple plan trackers 532at once. In an embodiment, other trackers may be provided that displayinformation similarly to the plan tracker 532. For example, an athlete100 with a goal to lose weight may chose to display a weight trackerthat tracks their progress towards a weight loss goal.

While these workout summary features have been described primarily inthe context of presentation from the server 112 to a user stationed at apersonal computer 114 such as a desktop, laptop, or tablet computer, inan embodiment of the present invention, GUIs providing information andfunctionalities similar to those provided by the GUIs depicted in FIG.49 may be provided to the athlete 100 via the portable fitnessmonitoring device 102. In another embodiment, rewards awards,achievements, and/or advertisements may also be provided.

As explained above, the track module 1200 of the application softwaremay include an achievements sub-module. As explained in further detailbelow, certain aspects of the achievements sub-module of the trackmodule 1200 of the portable fitness monitoring device 102 may be similarto aspects of the front page sub-module of the track module 500 of theserver 112, as described above.

As explained above, in one embodiment, the track module 1200 may presentthe athlete 100 with the option of receiving additional informationregarding workout histories, achievements, or shoes, as illustrated inFIG. 50A. When the athlete 100 indicates that they would like to receiveadditional information regarding achievements, the workout historysub-module may present a GUI such as the exemplary GUI window shown inFIG. 50B.

In one embodiment, summary information similar to that illustrated inFIG. 49 may be presented at the portable fitness monitoring device 102.In another embodiment, summary information presented may conveyinformation similar to that conveyed by the FIG. 49, but the summaryinformation may be relatively less complex and more suitable for asmaller display screen of a portable fitness monitoring device 102. Asillustrated in FIG. 50B, in one embodiment, the a display similar to thelifetime stats section 534 discussed above may be presented on theportable fitness monitoring device 102.

As explained above, the track module 1200 may further include a shoessub-module. Using this sub-module, the athlete 100 may be able toassociate a particular pair of shoes that the athlete 100 wore duringthe workout with the workout.

In one embodiment, after an appropriate prompt from the track module1200, the athlete 100 may manually associate a particular pair of shoeswith the workout using the user interface controls 124 of the portablefitness monitoring device 102. In another embodiment, the portablefitness monitoring device 102 may be able to automatically detect whichpair of shoes were being worn during the activity by detecting thepresence of a specific identifier, such as a radio frequencyidentification (RFID) chip in one or both of the shoes, as described infurther detail above.

In an embodiment where the athlete 100 manually enters information abouttheir shoes into the system, the athlete 100 may be prompted to enterthe shoe brand and style. Options for brand names and styles may beprovided in a drop-down menu. The athlete 100 may further be prompted toenter a nickname for the pair of shoes, and may be asked to estimate howmany miles (or kilometers) they have already covered while wearing theshoes. In another embodiment, this information may be detectedautomatically.

At a later time, a listing of each pair of shoes the athlete 100 hasassociated with one or more workouts, along with a cumulative distancethat the athlete 100 has traversed while wearing each pair of shoes, maybe presented. Athletes 100 may advantageously use this information todetermine when a particular pair may need to be replaced, or todetermine how particular pairs of shoes have affected the athlete's 100performance.

In one embodiment of the present invention, when the athlete 100 logs apredetermined number of miles (or kilometers) in a pair of shoes, theserver 112 may send a message to the athlete 10 to suggest that theathlete 100 purchase a replacement pair of shoes. The message mayprovide information about the effects of wear on the performance ofshoes. The message may be, for example, a text message, an email, orpost to the athlete's social networking site page. The message may alsosuggest a particular pair of shoes to the athlete. In an embodiment, themessage may provide a link to an online retailer's website where theathlete 100 could purchase the suggested pair of shoes, and may providethe athlete with a coupon toward the purchase of the new pair of shoes.

F. OTHER FEATURES

According to some embodiments of the present invention, users mayinteract with the portable fitness monitoring device 102 and/or thecomputer server 112 system before, during, and/or after the physicalactivity in various other ways while utilizing the fitness monitoringservices of the present invention.

As explained above, in one embodiment, the application software of theserver 112 includes a library module 700 and a forum module 800.Accordingly, the menu bar 204 of certain GUI windows may include severalicons or indicia corresponding to the library 700 and forum 800 modules.While the description that follows primarily describes the presentationof library and forum information in the context of presentation from theserver 112 to a user stationed at a personal computer 114 such as adesktop, laptop, or tablet computer, information may also be presentedvia the portable fitness monitoring device 102 itself to the athlete100.

The library module 700 may be capable of displaying GUI windows forphotos, illustrations, videos and articles. The photos, illustrations,videos and articles may provide the athlete 100 with additionalresources for planning, preparing for, and executing their workouts.

The library module 700 may include a videos section that provides shortanimations and/or videos teaching the athlete 100 proper stretching,warm-up, cool-down, and other exercising techniques. The athlete 100 mayselect a video icon with a cursor to display the video. A pop-up windowmay appear in response to the athlete 100 selecting a particular video.The pop-up window may include the animation and/or video, a suggestednumber of repetitions or time period for the activity, and other notesor comments about the activity. Additionally or alternatively, thepop-up window may include a photo, illustration, or other image thatrelates to the activity.

In an embodiment, the athlete 100 may be able to download videos fromthe server 112 to a portable fitness monitoring device 102 having avideo screen so that they may be viewed remotely. This may allow theathlete 100 to view instructions regarding preparing for or executingtheir workouts at the site of their workout prior to or during theirexercise routine.

The library module 700 may include an articles section that providesarticles information the athlete 100 about various health and fitnesstopics. Articles may focus on topics such as strength training,cardiovascular exercise, biking, running, inline skating, golfing, or avariety of other topics. The articles may not all relate directly tofitness activities. For example, some articles may be related to dietand nutrition.

The forum module 800 may be capable of displaying GUI windows for userforums. In one embodiment, the forum module 800 may employ a socialnetworking application, such as, for example, the Facebook serviceprovided by Facebook, Inc. of Palo Alto, Calif., or the Twitter serviceprovided by Twitter, Inc. of San Bruno, Calif. The social networkingapplication may utilize an application programming interface that allowsthe social networking application, such as Facebook or Twitter, to beembedded into the GUI windows of the present invention. In anotherembodiment, the social networking site provides a feed that can betransmitted and displayed via the GUI windows of the present invention.

The forum page may be a place where users can exchange updates regardingtheir fitness planning and progress using the system of the presentinvention. Users may also exchange information regarding the website,the particular training equipment and devices they are using, theathletic events or races they are participating in, and informationgiving and/or requesting coaching or other advice.

While library and forum have been described primarily in the context ofpresentation from the server 112 to a user stationed at a personalcomputer 114 such as a desktop, laptop, or tablet computer, in anembodiment of the present invention, GUIs providing information andfunctionalities similar to those provided by at a personal computer 114may be provided to the athlete 100 via the portable fitness monitoringdevice 102. For example, the explore module 1300 of the applicationsoftware of the portable fitness monitoring device 102 may be capable ofproviding such features.

As described in detail above, a user stationed at the remotely locatedpersonal computer 114 may be able to use a website to plan and schedulea prospective physical activity. In one embodiment of the presentinvention, the website may enable a user who is a coach to providetraining information, guidance, and/or feedback to one or more athletes100.

As illustrated in FIG. 8, the application software of server 112 mayinclude a coaching group module 1600. Among other things, the coachinggroup module 1600 may support one or more GUIs that are capable of beingpresented to coaches and/or athletes 100 at personal computers 114and/or portable fitness monitoring devices 102.

Coaches and/or athletes 100 may be able to utilize certain featuressupported by the coaching group module 1600 by accessing a fitnessmonitoring service website provided by the server 112, as described indetail elsewhere. Upon accessing the website, a coach and/or athlete maylogin to an account of the fitness monitoring service provided by theserver 112.

In one embodiment of the present invention, a user-coach may havepreviously created and logged into a stand-alone coaching account. Thestand-alone coaching account may enable the user-coach to utilizecertain coaching features, as described in further detail below, but maynot allow the user-coach to utilize one or more of the fitnessmonitoring features described above (e.g. the user-coach may not be ableto monitor and analyze their own fitness and workouts using thestand-alone coaching account).

In another embodiment, upon accessing the website, the user-coach maylog into their general account that allows the user-coach to utilize oneor more of the fitness monitoring features described above (e.g. theuser-coach may be able to monitor and analyze their own fitness andworkouts using the general account). In this case, while logged intotheir general account, the user-coach may be able to create a coachingaccount that is part of their general account. For example, in anembodiment, a menu bar 204, such as that depicted in FIG. 9, may includean icon or indicum corresponding to the coaching group module 1600. Uponselecting this icon or indicum, the user-coach may be prompted to createa coaching account.

Once the user-coach has logged into their coaching account, the coachinggroup module 1600 of the application software may present the user-coachwith a GUI that allows the user-coach to create coaching group. Acoaching group may be a group of linked accounts of the fitnessmonitoring service where one user—the coach—is responsible for providingtraining information, guidance, and/or feedback to one or more otherusers—the athletes 100. Athletes 100 in a coaching group may conductactivities using portable fitness monitoring devices 102 that arecapable of communicating information with a sever 112 that providesfitness monitoring services, as described above. Features of thecoaching group may implemented and provided by a website, as describedin further detail below.

When creating the coaching group, the coach may be prompted to determinecertain parameters for the group. For example, in one embodiment, thecoach may name the coaching group and provide a brief description of thegoals for members of the group. In another embodiment, the coach maylimit members of the group to, for example, members who live in acertain geographical area, belong to a certain athletic club or sportsteam, are in a certain age range, or have certain other common interestsor characteristics.

When the coach creates a coaching group, the menu bar 204 may be updatedto include an icon corresponding to the coaching group. The coach maythen select the coaching group icon to access certain features of thecoaching group described below.

In one embodiment, athletes 100 may join the coaching group afterreceiving an invitation, such as an invitation from the coach or from anexisting member-athlete 100 of the coaching group. In anotherembodiment, the coaching group module 1600 may provide a search featureon the website so that athletes 100 may search for a coaching group thatthey may like to join. The coach may be able to control the ability ofathletes 100 to search for and find their coaching group by decidingwhether to publish their coaching group to the general user community ofthe fitness monitoring service.

When an athlete 100 joins a coaching group (after requesting to join thegroup and/or after accepting an invitation to join the group), theathlete's 100 general fitness monitoring account may be linked to thecoach's coaching account. If the athlete 100 does not already have afitness monitoring account, the athlete may be prompted to open one.Once the coach's and athlete's 100 accounts are linked, a menu bar 204that may be displayed as part of the GUI of the athlete's account may beupdated to include an icon corresponding to the coaching group. Theathlete 100 may then select the coaching group icon to access certainfeatures of the coaching group described below.

At any time after the coach's and athlete's 100 accounts are linked, thecoach may be able to remove an athlete 100 from the coaching group, thusun-linking their accounts. Similarly, at any time the athlete 100 may beable to quit the coaching group, thus un-linking the athlete's andcoach's accounts.

The coach may select the coaching group icon to access certain featuresof the coaching group described below. FIG. 51 is an exemplary GUIwindow that may be displayed to the coach by the coaching group module1600. This GUI window may display a coaching dashboard that includes avariety of information about the coaching group, its members, and theirperformance.

As shown in FIG. 51, the coaching dashboard may include a header 1602and a member information section 1604. The header 1602 may include acoaching group name and description. For example, the group “WatertownWalkers” may have a stated goal of getting people of the city ofWatertown to walk more instead of driving. The header 1602 may alsoinclude a total stats line that provides cumulative statistical totalsfor all members of the coaching group. For example, as illustrated inFIG. 51, the Watertown Walkers have collectively been active for a totalof 5 days, 23 hours, and 37 seconds, have burned 30,184 calories, havecovered 2,349 kilometers, and have conducted a total of 39 individualworkouts. In this way, the statistical group information provided by theheader 1602 may be similar to the achievement information provided to anindividual athlete 100, as described above with respect to FIGS. 49 and50.

The member information section 1604 may include a table that lists thenames of the member-athletes 100 in rows and provides categories forscheduling and/or performance information associated with the athletes100 in columns. For example, as illustrated in FIG. 51, for a givenathlete 100, the table may provide the athlete's 100 name, a snapshot1606 of their performance for the current week, information regardingthe last workout the athlete completed, and information about the nextworkout that the athlete 100 has scheduled.

In one embodiment, as illustrated in FIG. 51, the snapshot 1606 may listthe number of workouts the athlete 100 has completed and the number ofcalories the athlete 100 has burned in the current week. In otherembodiments, weekly totals or averages for other performance informationcategories, such as those described below, may be provided by thesnapshot 1606. For example, in an embodiment, the athlete's 100 averagepace, speed, or heart rate for the current week may be provided.

Information regarding the last workout the athlete completed may includethe name or type of workout completed (e.g. plan workout, customworkout, free workout, or assessment workout), the date the workout wascompleted, and/or the total workout time. A zone bar indicator 320, suchas those described above and those depicted in FIG. 51, may also beprovided. Other information regarding the last workout provided by thecoaching group module 1600 may also include, for example, the elapsedtime of the workout, the calories the athlete 100 burned during theworkout, the distance traveled during the workout, the athlete's 100average heart rate during the workout, the athlete's average pace duringthe workout, the athlete's 100 average stride rate during the workout,and the degree of the athlete's 100 elevational ascent during theworkout. Each time the coach accesses the coaching dashboard, thedashboard may sync with the member-athlete's 100 accounts so that all ofthe data provided in the member information section 1604 is up to date.

In one embodiment of the present invention, a feedback column 1608 mayprovided a place where icons may be displayed to indicate that theathlete 100 or the coach has provided notes or other feedback about aworkout. For example, as illustrated by FIG. 51, a note icon 1610 mayindicate that the athlete 100 has provided a note for the workout, asdescribed above with reference to FIGS. 33C, 33D. As further illustratedby FIG. 51, a feedback icon 1612 may indicate that the coach hasprovided feedback regarding the workout. The feedback associated withthe feedback icon 1612 may be, for example, a congratulatory or criticalcomment on the athlete's 100 performance during the workout. In anembodiment, the coach may provide feedback to the athlete by, forexample, a text message, an email message, or post to the athlete's 100social networking site page, and a feedback icon 1612 may appear on thedashboard in the feedback column 1608 in response to this.

The member information section 1604 table may also include informationabout the next workout that the athlete 100 has scheduled. Informationregarding the next workout the athlete 100 has scheduled may include thename or type of workout to be completed (e.g. plan workout, customworkout, free workout, or assessment workout), the date the workout isscheduled to be completed, and/or the total estimated workout time. Azone bar indicator 320, such as those described above and those depictedin FIG. 51, may also be provided.

In one embodiment, in response to the coach clicking on one of thevarious graphical elements of the dashboard, the coaching group module1600 may provide the coach with a GUI that includes more detailedinformation about an individual athlete's 100 workout, such as a GUIsimilar to those capable of being provided by the history sub-module ofthe track module 500, as depicted in FIGS. 36-40. In this way, the coachmay review and analyze the athlete's workout performance in greaterdetail. In an embodiment, the athlete 100 may adjust their coachinggroup setting so that the coach has limited access to certain portionsof their athletic performance data.

In another embodiment, in response to the coach clicking on, forexample, the athlete's 100 name or an icon corresponding to theathlete's 100 next scheduled workout, the coaching group module 1600 mayprovide the coach with a GUI that includes a calendar 402 of theathlete's 100 scheduled workouts, such as a GUI similar to those capableof being provided by the schedule module 400, as depicted in FIG. 14.

With regard to the planning and scheduling aspects of the coaching groupfeatures of embodiments of the present invention, a coach may havedifferent levels of involvement in the providing workouts for themember-athletes 100.

In one embodiment, the coach may have the authority to select a trainingplan and schedule the plan workouts of the training plan on theathlete's 100 calendar, as described above with respect to FIGS. 12-14.In another embodiment of the present invention, the coach may have theauthority to build, select, and/or schedule custom workouts on theathlete's 100 calendar, as described above with respect to FIG. 14.

Workout routines associated with the scheduled workouts may be sent tothe athlete's 100 portable fitness monitoring device 102 prior to theathlete 100 engaging in the workout, as described above.

As a specific example of an embodiment of the present invention, anathlete 100 may be granted access to a general account with the fitnessmonitoring service described above. Among other things, the fitnessmonitoring service may be capable of maintaining a schedule of workoutsfor the athlete 100 to complete in association with the account. Thismay be accomplished, for example using the plan module 300 and schedulemodule 400 software application modules, as described above.

The athlete 100 may chose to join a coaching group that was set up by acoach in the coaches own account utilizing the coaching group module.Once the coach and athlete's 100 accounts are linked, the coach may beable to provide a new workout for the athlete 100. When the systemreceives that new workout from the coach, the new workout may be addedto the schedule of the athlete's 100 workouts. Then, at the appropriatetime, a workout routine corresponding to the new workout may be sent tothe athlete's 100 portable fitness monitoring device 102, such as amobile phone. After the athlete 100 completes the workout, the portablefitness monitoring device 102 may send athletic performance informationassociated with the workout back to the server 112 for additionalprocessing.

In one embodiment, the coach may be able to provide the new workout forthe athlete 100 by interacting with a GUI that includes a graphicalrepresentation of the athlete's 100 schedule of workouts, such as aworkout calendar 402. The coach may associate the new workout withparticular day on the athlete's 100 calendar. For example, in anembodiment, the coach may select an icon corresponding to a customworkout from a GUI sidebar 514 and drag the custom workout icon toanother icon representing a particular day on the calendar 402. Thesystem thus schedules the new workout on the athlete's 100 calendar forthe athlete 100 to complete at a later date.

As described in detail above, the new workout may have a performanceparameter target such as, for example, a target time, distance, speed,pace, and/or heart rate. The workout may consist of a series ofintervals each having a target intensity, such a target speed, pace,and/or heart rate. In an embodiment, as described above, the targetintensity may be a range of intensities or a zone, such as thecolor-coded zones described above with reference to FIGS. 10 and 11.

As described in detail above, in one embodiment of the presentinvention, the fitness monitoring system may utilize an “assessmentworkout” to assess the relative fitness level of the athlete 100, and/orto establish or modify the athlete's 100 performance zones for one ormore parameters. This feature may be enabled by the go module 1100 ofthe portable fitness monitoring device and/or the support module 600 ofthe server 112.

As illustrated in FIG. 8, the application software of server 112 mayinclude an assessment workout module 1700. Among other things, theassessment workout module 1700 may be capable of generating workoutroutines for athletes 100 who have not yet created an account with thefitness monitoring service.

An athlete 100 who possesses a portable fitness monitoring device 102,such as a mobile phone, may be interested in testing out fitnessmonitoring services, such as those described according to embodiments ofthe present invention. However, the athlete 100 may be reluctant to signup for an account with the fitness monitoring service via a website. Inan embodiment of the present invention, an athlete 100 with a compatibleportable fitness monitoring device 102, such as a mobile phone, may beable to test out the portable fitness monitoring service by utilizingtheir portable fitness monitoring device 102 and providing the fitnessmonitoring service with minimal information, but without initiallycreating an account with the fitness monitoring service.

In one embodiment, the athlete 100 may power on their portable fitnessmonitoring device 102 if it is not already in a powered on state. Insome embodiments, it may be necessary for the athlete 100 to manipulateuser input controls 124 to enter a portable fitness monitoring mode toaccess the application software. In other embodiments, it may benecessary for the athlete 100 to download the application software.

Upon launch of the portable fitness monitoring application, the startmodule 1000 may prompt the athlete 100 and determine whether the athlete100 wishes to proceed as a guest who does not have an account with thefitness monitoring service. If the athlete 100 indicates via activationof the user input controls 124 that the athlete 100 does not have and/ordoes not want to create an account with the fitness monitoring service,the start module 1000 may present a personal information wizard that mayallow the athlete 100 to enter personal information such as, forexample, the athlete's 100 age, the athlete's 100 gender, the athlete's100 weight, and/or the athlete's 100 height. As explained in furtherdetail above, the personal information wizard may also allow the athlete100 to enter preferred unit preferences and/or preferred voice trainingoptions.

As described above with respect to FIG. 26, in an embodiment, theportable fitness monitoring device 102 may provide the athlete 100 withinstructions for conducting the assessment workout, may begin theassessment workout, may monitor the athlete's 100 performance, and mayend the assessment workout.

For example, verbal or visual instructions may be provided to theathlete 100 that tell the athlete 100 to run as fast as possible for twominutes. During the two minute activity, the portable fitness monitoringdevice 102 may measure and record performance information associatedwith the athlete 100 such as, for example, the athlete's 100 heart rateand/or speed. In an embodiment, the portable fitness monitoring device102 may measure and record the athlete's 100 maximum heart rate and/ormaximum speed during the activity.

Alternatively, the assessment workout may prompt the athlete 100 to, forexample, run at certain percentages of their maximum speed for setperiods of time, as subjectively estimated by the athlete 100. Forexample, the assessment workout may prompt the athlete 100 to try toconsistently run at 50%, 75%, and 100% of their maximum speed forconsecutive 1 minute periods. During this three minute activity, theportable fitness monitoring device 102 may measure and recordperformance information associated with the athlete 100 such as, forexample, the athlete's 100 heart rate and/or speed.

Upon completion of the specified activity, the portable fitnessmonitoring device 102 may transmit the performance information to thefitness monitoring service server 112, as described in further detailelsewhere. Either before, along with, or after the transmission of theperformance information from the portable fitness monitoring device 102to the server, the athlete's 100 personal information may also betransmitted to the server 112.

The assessment workout module 1700 of the application software of server112 may be capable of initiating several related actions, as brieflyoutlined in the flow chart of FIG. 52. At step 1702, the server 112 mayreceive the personal information associated with an athlete 100 from theportable fitness monitoring device 102. Before, along with, or afterstep 1702, at step 1704, the server 112 may also receive the performanceinformation associated with the athlete 100 from the portable fitnessmonitoring device 102. Next, at step 1706, the workout module 1700 maygenerate a workout routine based on the personal information and theperformance information. Finally, at step 1708, the server 112 may sendthe workout routine to the portable fitness monitoring device 102.

The workout module 1700 may be able to generate a workout routine usingone of a variety of algorithms. In one embodiment, one or more of theathlete's 100 age, gender, weight, and/or height may be factored in toincrease or decrease the difficulty of the workout routine. In anotherembodiment, the athlete's 100 heart rate, pace, and/or speed informationmay be factored in to increase or decrease the difficulty of the workoutroutine. In some embodiments, look-up tables or performance parameterindices may be consulted.

Other factors may also go into the generation of a workout routine. Inone embodiment, the weather forecast for the region where the athlete islocated or otherwise desires to conduct a workout could be factored in.For example, if the forecast calls for very hot weather, the intensityof the workout generated may be lowered. In another embodiment, theathlete could indicate that they are training for an upcoming event,such as a specific race. Accordingly, the characteristics of the raceroute (e.g. distance, elevation, difficulty, etc.) could be factored into the generation of the workout routine.

In yet another embodiment, to encourage the athlete 100 to continueusing the fitness monitoring in the future, along with the workoutroutine, the athlete 100 may be provided with specific training tipsand/or contact information for local trainers or coaches in theathlete's 100 area.

The workout routine may include one or more of a number of differentgoals, as described with respect to plan and custom workouts elsewhere.For example, the workout module 1700 may be able to generate a workoutroutine that includes a target time or a target distance. The workoutmodule 1700 may also be able to generate a workout routine that includesa plurality of intervals, where each interval has an intensity goal. Theworkout module 1700 may further be able to generate a workout routinewhere the intensity goal is, for example, heart rate, distance, pace, orspeed based.

In an embodiment, the portable fitness monitoring device 102 and theserver 112 may communicate information via a wireless network, asdescribed above. For example, in one embodiment, the portable fitnessmonitoring device 102 is adapted to transmit personal and performanceinformation and to receive the workout routine using a wirelesstransceiver, as described above.

In a further embodiment, the workout module 1700 may be capable ofgenerating a workout based on the user's present location and/or theweather conditions or forecast associated with the user's present ordesired location. Location-based information may be determined based onposition information derived from a positioning system receiver 126 ofthe portable fitness monitoring device 102, as described above.

In some embodiments, the workout module 1700 may generate multipleworkout routines for an athlete 100 based on a single assessmentworkout.

As described in detail above, in one embodiment of the presentinvention, the portable fitness monitoring device 102 may include orcommunicate with one or more sensors 104 for detecting information usedto measure and/or calculate performance parameters. In an embodimentshown in FIG. 1, the portable fitness monitoring device 102 itself mayinclude a sensor 104.

In one embodiment, a positioning system receiver 126, such as thatillustrated in FIG. 3, may function as a sensor 104 integrally coupledto the portable fitness monitoring device 102, and may allow theportable fitness monitoring device 102 to detecting information that maybe used to measure and/or calculate location, distance traveled, speed,and/or pace. The positioning system receiver 126 may be, for example, aGPS- or Galileo-compatible receiver.

As the portable fitness monitoring device 102 including the positioningsystem receiver 126 is supported by the athlete 100 during an activity,the positioning system receiver 126 may receive positioning systemsignals from positioning system satellites, where each positioningsystem signal may contain a timestamp. From these positioning systemsignals, the processor 120 of the portable fitness monitoring device 102may compute a series of time-stamped position points. These time-stampedposition points may be subject to at least two types of error, namely,timing error and positional error.

Timing error may be induced by a low performance processor driving thepositioning system receiver 126 that does not have sufficient cycles todedicate to positioning system signal processing. Alternatively oradditionally, timing error may be inserted by the use of, for example,assisted GPS (A-GPS), which requires round trip communication over awireless network to validate a GPS reading, or by local filteringperformed by the positioning system receiver 126 and/or the processor120.

Additional positional error may also be caused by the inherentpositional error of commercial (as opposed to military) positioningsystem signals, which, in the case of GPS, is typically between 3-5meters. Consequently, when the sampling rate of the positioning systemsignal causes more than one sample to be taken during time intervalrequired for the athlete 100 to traverse the positional error distance,a “zigzag” positional route may be reported even if a relativelystraight path was followed. This distance error may negatively impactany average or instantaneous speed or pace computations that depend on acorrect reporting of distance traversed.

Accordingly, positioning system-based speed or pace calculations may beprone to these and other errors. In embodiments of the present inventionthat rely on positioning system-based speed or pace calculations toprovide real-time coaching and/or feedback, as described above, theseerrors can adversely affect the accuracy of the coaching and/orfeedback. For example, some embodiments may provide feedback when theathlete 100 has fallen outside of a desired speed or pace zone. If theportable fitness monitoring device can not accurately detect changes inspeed or pace, this feedback may be inaccurate.

As illustrated in FIG. 21, the application software of the portablefitness monitoring device 102 may include a positioning system smoothingmodule 1800. Among other things, the positioning system smoothing module1800 may be capable of increasing the accuracy of positioningsystem-based speed or pace detection and, therefore, the accuracy of thereal-time coaching and/or feedback.

In one embodiment of the present invention, the positioning systemsmoothing module 1800 may employ a buffer system to increase theaccuracy of positioning system-based speed or pace detection and,therefore, the accuracy of the real-time coaching and/or feedback.

For example, the portable fitness processing device 102 software maycontinually add GPS waypoints to the memory 122, and the processor 120may continually calculate speed points based on the elapsed time andmeasured distance between consecutive waypoints. The software may thensave a predetermined number of speed points in a speed buffer, and maycompare the values in the speed buffer to determine a weighted averagespeed.

Weighting factors may take into account how recently a value was addedto the buffer, and may assign a greater weight to more recent values.Weighting factors may also consider how much a recent value deviatesfrom the current average.

Data may be added to the buffer as it is recorded, and the buffer maybuild up until it reaches a predetermined size. When the buffer becomesfull, it may begin discarding the oldest data point each time a new datapoint is added.

In an embodiment, these weighted average speeds may be the speeds thatare displayed to the athlete 100 while the athlete 100 is using theportable fitness monitoring device 102, that are wirelessly transmittedto the server 112, and that are used for feedback and coaching.

A variety of methods may be employed to best determine accurate weightedaverage speeds. Those methods may include, for example, a standardaverage method, a cumulative sum method, a cluster average method, atime weighted average method, an inverse speed delta weighted averagemethod, an acceleration adjusted instant speed method, or combinationsof one or more of these methods.

Standard average methods may involve calculating mean speeds between twoor more consecutive speed points. Cumulative sum methods may involvedetermining a cumulative sum of the deviation from a target value, suchas the sum of all the differences in speed from a particular speedreference point. The reference point could be, for example, the runningstandard average of speed values. As ongoing cumulative sum values aredetermined, they may be analyzed by an algorithm to determine if apossible change in speed is valid or not. If the speed change is valid,it is factored in and used to provide feedback and coaching. If thespeed change is not valid, it is ignored. Cluster average methods aresimilar to standard average methods, but instead of averaging onlyconsecutive speed points within the moving buffer, speed points thatoccurred further apart in time are compared.

Time weighted average methods may take into account how recently a speedvalue was added to the buffer, and may assign a greater weight to morerecent speed values. A weighting coefficient can be determined byvarious means. For example, in an inverse speed delta weighted averagemethod, the weighting coefficient may have the effect of weightingparticular speed points less the further they are away from a particularreference value.

Acceleration adjusted instant speed methods may involve adjusting speedpoint values based on known real-life human acceleration capabilities.In other words, the point to point difference in instantaneous speed maybe limited by a maximum known acceleration. For example, the method mayassume a maximum human runner's acceleration to be 1.0 miles per hourper second. Thus, the system would limit a recorded and/or output speedchange of 10 miles per hour to a period of 10 seconds.

In one embodiment, the positioning system smoothing module 1800 mayemploy a combination of the inverse speed delta weighted average andacceleration adjusted instant speed methods. For example, instantaneouscalculated speeds may first be adjusted using an acceleration adjustmentformula, and then the resulting values may be feed into an inverse speeddelta weighted average formula.

In another embodiment of the present invention, the GPS smoothing module1800 may employ an additional method to increase the accuracy ofGPS-based speed and pace detection and, therefore, the accuracy of thereal-time coaching and/or feedback.

In the above described scenario, there may be significant lag time inreporting an updated speed of the athlete 100 in real time during theactivity. For example, an athlete 100 may be running at a speed of eightmiles per hour when the portable fitness monitoring device 102 informsthe athlete 100 that their workout routine calls for them to enter a newperformance zone interval that will bring their speed up to ten milesper hour. Assuming the athlete 100 quickly accelerates to ten miles perhour, a significant amount of time may pass before the weighted averagespeed settles in around ten miles per hour, because it may be weighteddown with a plurality of eight mile per hour data points in the buffer.

As a result, if an incorrect speed is output to the athlete 100 and theathlete 100 recognizes this, the athlete 100 may lose confidence in theaccuracy of the system. Alternatively, the athlete 100 may attempt tospeed up even more in response to observing a speed that appears toolow, even if the athlete 100 has in reality already achieved the properspeed. Similarly, the portable fitness monitoring software may providean additional coach prompt for the athlete 100 to speed up when theathlete 100 has in reality already achieved the proper speed.

In one embodiment, in an attempt to remedy these issues, the buffer mayperiodically discard all of its data points in response to ananticipated change in speed by the athlete 100. For example, if theportable fitness monitoring device 102 informs the athlete 100 thattheir workout routine calls for them to enter a new performance zoneinterval, the GPS smoothing module 1800 may cause the buffer to discardall of its data points so that the new weighted average speed is notaffected by values that are known to be outdated. In other words, theportable fitness monitoring device 102 may be capable of adjusting thebuffer based on known or anticipated speed changes, based on thedevice's knowledge of the workout routine.

In one embodiment of the present invention, the GPS smoothing module1800 may employ an yet another additional method to increase theaccuracy of GPS-based speed and pace detection and, therefore, theaccuracy of the real-time coaching and/or feedback, as outlined in FIG.53.

At step 1802, a plurality of speed points may be calculated from aplurality of time-stamped position points. At step 1804, an output speedmay be calculated based on at least some of the plurality of speedpoints. At step 1806, a determination may be made that the output speedis outside of a predetermined speed range. At step 1808, accelerationdata may be received from an accelerometer. At step 1810, adetermination may be made that a recent speed change has occurred basedon the acceleration data. Finally, at step 1812, feedback may beprovided to the athlete 100 via the portable fitness monitoring device102. In an embodiment, the feedback may be provided in response to thedetermination that the output speed is outside of the predeterminedspeed range, and in response to the determination that the recent speedchange has occurred. In one embodiment, these steps need not beperformed in the order listed.

The plurality of time-stamped position points may be, for example, GPSposition points collected by the portable fitness monitoring device 102at the athlete 100 engages in an activity and traverses a route, asdescribed above. In an embodiment, the processor 120 of the portablefitness monitoring device 102 may receive the plurality of time-stampedposition points for further processing.

A plurality of speed points may be calculated from the plurality oftime-stamped position points. In some embodiments, as described above,speed point calculation may involve factoring in the distances betweenconsecutive pairs of time-stamped position points and factoring in thetime periods between consecutive pairs of time-stamped position points.

An output speed may be calculated based on at least some of theplurality of speed points. In one embodiment, the output speed may becalculated averaging two or more of the plurality of speed points. Asdescribed above, weighted or other averaging may be employed. In anotherembodiment, also as described above, the positioning system smoothingmodule 1800 may maintain at least some of the plurality of speed pointsin a speed buffer. In such an embodiment, the step of calculating theoutput speed includes calculating an output speed based only on theplurality of speed points in the speed buffer. As explained above, thespeed buffer may be useful for conducting averaging to determine anoutput speed.

In an embodiment, an accelerometer may be contained within a housing ofthe portable fitness monitoring device. For example, the portablefitness monitoring device 102 may be a mobile phone having both a GPSreceiver and an accelerometer contained within the mobile phone housing.In another embodiment, the accelerometer may be physically separate fromthe portable fitness monitoring device 102 and may communicatewirelessly with it, as described above.

A determination that a recent speed change has occurred may be based onacceleration data provided by the accelerometer. The accelerometer datamay provide acceleration data in response to movements of the portablefitness monitoring device 102 and/or the athlete's 100 body during anactivity. In an embodiment, certain changes in the accelerometer signalmay generally suggest that the athlete 100 has changed speeds.

In one embodiment, the acceleration data may take the form of aplurality of acceleration points having varying magnitudes. For example,the accelerometer may be periodically sampled and may provideconsecutive data points registering 1 G, 1 G, and 2 Gs. In this case,the determination that a recent speed change has occurred may includeanalyzing the differences in the magnitudes of the acceleration points.For example, it may be determined that a speed change did not occurbetween the 1 G and 1 G data points, but that a speed change did occurbetween the 1 G and 2 Gs data points.

In another embodiment, the acceleration data may take the form of anacceleration signal having oscillations. For example, an accelerometersignal may have a generally sinusoidal output that corresponds to arepetitive motion, such as running. In this case, the determination thata recent speed change has occurred may include analyzing the changes inthe oscillations of the acceleration signal. For example, changes in theamplitude or frequency of the sinusoidal output may suggest that a speedchange has occurred.

In an embodiment of the present invention where a speed buffer is used,the positioning system smoothing module may initiate discarding theplurality of speed points in the speed buffer in response to thedetermination that a recent speed change has occurred, based on theaccelerometer data. For example, if the portable fitness monitoringdevice 102 detects a recent speed change via the accelerometer, thepositioning system smoothing module 1800 may cause the speed buffer todiscard all of its speed points so that a new output speed calculationis not affected by values that are likely to correspond to a speed theathlete 100 is no longer maintaining. In other words, the portablefitness monitoring device 102 may be capable of adjusting the speedbuffer based on the accelerometer data. This may increase the accuracyof positioning system-based speed detection and, therefore, the accuracyof the real-time coaching and/or feedback.

Feedback may be provided in response to the determination that theoutput speed is outside of the predetermined speed range, and inresponse to the determination that the recent speed change has occurred(via the accelerometer). As described in detail throughout thespecification, feedback may include, for example, audio, visual, and/ortactile feedback. Feedback may be generated as part of a planned orcustom workout routine that the portable fitness monitoring device 102is executing. Feedback may inform the athlete 100 that they have fallenbelow or risen above a desired intensity level for a particular portionof a workout.

In an embodiment, the predetermined speed range may be associated with acolor-coded intensity zone, as described above with respect to thecolor-coded zone system depicted in FIGS. 10 and 11. In such anembodiment, the feedback may audibly or visually convey a color to theathlete in accordance with the color-coded zone system.

For example, an athlete 100 may be engaged in an activity utilizing aportable fitness monitoring device 102 executing a workout routine. Theworkout routine may presently call for the athlete to maintain a speedcorresponding to the green zone (i.e. the predetermined speed rangecorresponds to the green zone). If the portable fitness monitoringdevice 102 determines that the output speed is below the green zonespeed range and further determines that a recent speed change hasoccurred based on the accelerometer data, the portable fitnessmonitoring device 102 may announce “your intensity is only at a bluezone level, increase your intensity to enter the green zone.”

In certain situations, determining that a recent speed change hasoccurred based on accelerometer data may increase the accuracy ofpositioning system-based speed detection and, therefore, the accuracy ofthe real-time coaching and/or feedback, as compared to a situation wheresuch information is not considered.

For example, in the situation described above where the workout routinepresently calls for the athlete to maintain a speed corresponding to thegreen zone, the green zone may range from seven to eight miles per hour.As the athlete 100 is conducting the activity, the output speed derivedfrom the positioning system data, which may suffer from some degree ofinaccuracy, may indicate that the athlete's 100 speed has fallen to 6.5miles per hour. In this case, the portable fitness monitoring device 102would normally provide a feedback prompt to speed up, such as “yourintensity is only at a blue zone level, increase your intensity to enterthe green zone.” However, in a situation where the feedback additionallydepends on a determination that a recent speed change has occurred basedon accelerometer data, unless such a determination is made, the feedbackmay be withheld. For example, the accelerometer data may indicate arelatively steady pattern of acceleration that indicates that theathlete 100 has not recently changed speeds. Of course, if theaccelerometer data indicated that a recent speed change had occurred,the feedback would still be provided.

Thus, the various embodiments described above with respect to thepositioning system smoothing module may increase the accuracy ofpositioning system-based speed detection and, therefore, the accuracy ofthe real-time coaching and/or feedback.

In another embodiment of the present invention, one or more of thevarious smoothing methods described may be used and may result in aseries of speed and/or pace output values. Sometimes the output valuesmay vary once every second or two, but only by small amounts. Forexample, pace output values of, for example, 8:57, 9:03, 9:01, 8:55,9:02, 9:04, 9:06, and 8:59 may be calculated. If these individual valueswere displayed to the athlete 100 during an activity, the athlete maybecome distracted by having their attention drawn to constantly varyingvalues that essentially reflect static performance.

In an embodiment, to minimize the potential for such distraction, aminimum deviation may be calculated and employed. If the differencebetween consecutive calculated output values is less than the minimumdeviation value, the value actually displayed to the athlete 100 willnot change. For example, with regard to the pace-based example providedabove, if a minimum deviation of 8 seconds is used, after the first paceoutput value of 8:57 is displayed, the display would continue to output8:57 even as values of 9:03, 9:01, 8:55, 9:02, and 9:04 are received,because each of these values is less that 8 seconds different from 8:57.However, when the value of 9:06 is received, 9:06 would be displayedbecause it is greater than 8 seconds different from 8:57. From thispoint on, 9:06 would be displayed until another value greater than 8seconds different from 9:06 is received. This has the effect of removingmicro variations from the pace output without changing the overall macrochanges.

Using such a system, however, it would be possible for the display toremain constant for a long stretch of time if received valuescontinually remain within the minimum deviation. An athlete 100observing such a display may begin to assume that the display is frozenor that the device is otherwise not working. Accordingly, it may bedesirable to limit the maximum duration of a content display. In anembodiment, a cap may be placed such that the display must be allowed tochange after a given period of time, such as, for example, eightseconds. Thus regardless of the degree of deviation or lack thereof fromthe reference point, a new received value may be displayed after eightseconds.

In one embodiment of the present invention, acceleration data may beused to predict speed data in the event that a GPS signal is lost in themiddle of an athlete's 100 activity. For example, as described above,prior to the point that a GPS signal is lost, the GPS data may have beenused to determine the output speed. Rather than reporting the outputspeed as zero once the GPS signal is lost, the device may look to theaccelerometer data.

For example, during the GPS outage, if the accelerometer data shows arelatively steady pattern that indicates that the athlete 100 has notrecently changed speeds, the device may continue to report a consistentoutput speed until the GPS signal is restored again. On the other hand,during the GPS outage, if the accelerometer data shows a steadilyincreasing or decreasing pattern that indicates that the athlete 100 wasin the course of speeding up or slowing down, the device may continue toreport a steadily increasing or decreasing speed until the GPS signal isrestored again.

In some embodiments of the present invention, the positioning systemreceiver 126 of the portable fitness monitoring device 102 mayadvantageously be used to trigger certain functionalities, as isdescribed in further detail below.

With reference to FIG. 54, in one embodiment, at step 1902, a portablefitness monitoring application may be launched on the portable fitnessmonitoring device 102. Next, at step 1904, position data may be receivedfrom a satellite positioning system receiver 126 of the portable fitnessmonitoring device 102. Then, at step 1906, the application may determinethat the position data indicates that the portable fitness monitoringdevice 102 is moving. At step 1908, an activity may be initiated inresponse to the determination that the portable fitness monitoringdevice 102 is moving. Next, at step 1910, the application may determinethat the position data indicates that the portable fitness monitoringdevice 102 is not moving. Finally, at step 1912, the activity may end inresponse to the determination that the portable fitness monitoringdevice 102 is not moving.

Such features may be employed by a portable fitness monitoring device102, for example, in the form of a mobile phone. The portable fitnessmonitoring application may be an application having features such asthose described above with reference to FIG. 21. For example, theapplication may execute workout routines a portable fitness monitoringdevice 102 supported by an athlete 100 while an athlete 100 engages inan activity.

Position data, such as a plurality of position points, may be receivedfrom a satellite positioning system receiver 126 of the portable fitnessmonitoring device 102, as described above. For example, a GPS receiverof the portable fitness monitoring device 102 may provide a plurality oftime-stamped GPS position points to the processor 120 of the portablefitness monitoring device 102.

Eventually, after the athlete 100 decides to begin their activity (e.g.running, biking, inline skating, skiing, golfing, etc.) and beginsmoving, the application may determine that the position points indicatethat the portable fitness monitoring device 102 is moving. Such adetermination may not always be straightforward due to inherent GPSerrors and uncertainties, such as those described above.

In one embodiment, this determination may be based on a determinationthat the distance between two consecutive position points exceeds apredetermined threshold. For example, the application may determine thattwo consecutive GPS position points indicate that the portable fitnessmonitoring device 102 (and thus the athlete 100) is moving because thelocations associated with the position points are more than five metersapart.

In another embodiment, the determination that the position pointsindicate that the portable fitness monitoring device 102 is moving maybe based on a determination that the distance between two consecutiveposition points exceeds a predetermined threshold for at least apredetermined period of time. For example, the application may determinethat two consecutive GPS position points indicate that the portablefitness monitoring device 102 (and thus the athlete 100) is movingbecause the locations associated with the position points are more thanfive meters apart for several consecutive sets of position points forfive seconds.

In a further embodiment, the determination that the position pointsindicate that the portable fitness monitoring device 102 is moving maybe based on a determination that a series of a minimum number ofposition points are each at least a minimum distance from a startingpoint. If the minimum number of position points and the minimum distanceare large enough, it would be highly likely that the athlete 100 ismoving if this test is met. However, making these values too largeincreases the lag time in making the movement determination.

In one embodiment, the determination that the position points indicatethat the portable fitness monitoring device 102 is moving may be basedon a determination that similar to that just described, but modified toreflect a known position point uncertainty. Specifically, if theuncertainty of a particular position point is known or can be calculatedand expressed as a function of distance, the minimum distance describedabove can be modified as a function of the uncertainty. In other words,position points associated with high uncertainties will be less likelyto be relied upon.

In another embodiment, the determination that the position pointsindicate that the portable fitness monitoring device 102 is moving maybe based on a determination that a minimum number of position points areever increasing in distance from the starting point (i.e. a concentriccircle method). This method advantageously does not require the athlete100 to have covered a minimum distance, but alone in a noisy signalenvironment the test may be difficult to satisfy. In an embodiment, anaccelerometer signal may be used to reduce the minimum number ofposition point required. Specifically, if the accelerometer signalindicates a change in speed, as described above, the concentric circletest may only need to employ a reduce number of position points to makea determination.

In a further embodiment, the determination that the position pointsindicate that the portable fitness monitoring device 102 is moving maybe based on a combination of the concentric circle method and one of theminimum distance methods described above. Specifically, the portablefitness monitoring device 102 may first employ the concentric circlemethod, while still collecting and analyzing data according to theminimum distance method in parallel. If the concentric circle method issatisfied, the athlete 100 is considered to be moving. If the concentriccircle test fails, the device falls back on the minimum distance methodto determine whether the athlete 100 is moving.

In one embodiment, the concentric circle test may be modified byanalyzing bearings (i.e. directional headings). Specifically, as eachnew position point is received, a bearing from the starting point to thenew point may be calculated. The test is not satisfied if the bearingfor a new point differs from any previous bearing by a set number ofdegrees, such as, for example, 90 degrees.

In another embodiment, position points may be collected in a set andanalyzed by known statistical methods to determine the randomness of theposition points. For example, the randomness of the latitudes of thepoints, the longitudes of the points, or both may be analyzed.

An activity may be initiated by the application in response to thedetermination that the portable fitness monitoring device 102 is moving.

In one embodiment the activity may be the execution of a workoutroutine, such that the portable fitness monitoring device 102 may beginto execute a workout routine in response to the determination that theportable fitness monitoring device 102 is moving. Workout routines aredescribed in detail throughout the specification. For example, in oneembodiment, the workout routine may include a plurality of intervals,where each interval has an intensity goal. The intensity goal may be,for example, a target heart rate range, a target speed range, or atarget pace range. As described above, the target performance parameterintensity goal ranges may be associated with a color-coded zone system.Thus, embodiments of the present invention may advantageously be used totrigger the initiation of workouts without requiring the athlete 100 totake an affirmative action beyond initiating motion, such as, forexample, actuating a button on the portable fitness monitoring device102.

In another embodiment the activity may be the playback of music, suchthat the portable fitness monitoring device 102 may begin to playbackmusic in response to the determination that the portable fitnessmonitoring device 102 is moving. In one embodiment, the playback ofmusic may not begin until an additional determination is made thatworkout routine execution has begun. Music playback is described indetail above.

For example, in one embodiment, the music played back to the athlete 100during the activity may be associated with a playlist. Once musicplayback is initiated, the application may consult a playlist, which mayindicate a group of music tracks to be played and the order they shouldbe played in. The music tracks and/or a playlist file corresponding tothe playlist may be save in the memory 122 of the portable fitnessmonitoring device. Alternatively, the music tracks and/or a playlistfile corresponding to the playlist may be remotely accessible, forexample, via a wireless network. In an embodiment, the music tracksand/or a playlist file may be downloaded to the portable fitnessmonitoring device 102 along with a workout routine. Thus, embodiments ofthe present invention may advantageously be used to trigger the playingof a playlist without requiring the athlete 100 to take an affirmativeaction beyond initiating motion, such as, for example, actuating abutton on the portable fitness monitoring device 102.

Eventually, after the athlete 100 decides to end their activity (e.g.running, biking, inline skating, golfing, etc.) and ceases moving, theapplication may determine that the position points indicate that theportable fitness monitoring device 102 is not moving. The determinationthat the portable fitness monitoring device 102 is not moving may bemade in a variety of ways similar to those described above with respectto determining that the portable fitness monitoring device 102 ismoving.

In one embodiment, this determination may be based on a determinationthat the distance between two consecutive position points is less than apredetermined threshold. For example, the application may determine thattwo consecutive GPS position points indicate that the portable fitnessmonitoring device 102 (and thus the athlete 100) is not moving becausethe locations associated with the position points are less than fivemeters apart.

In another embodiment, the determination that the position pointsindicate that the portable fitness monitoring device 102 is not movingmay be based on a determination that the distance between twoconsecutive position points is less than a predetermined threshold forat least a predetermined period of time. For example, the applicationmay determine that two consecutive GPS position points indicate that theportable fitness monitoring device 102 (and thus the athlete 100) is notmoving because the locations associated with the position points areless than five meters apart for several consecutive sets of positionpoints for five seconds.

In a further embodiment, the determination that the position pointsindicate that the portable fitness monitoring device 102 is not movingmay be based on first determining speed points. If the speed pointssuggest that the speed has dropped below a predetermined level, forexample one mile per hour, the athlete 100 may be considered to bestopped.

In an embodiment, an accelerometer signal may be used to that theportable fitness monitoring device 102 is not moving. Specifically, ifthe accelerometer signal indicates a change in speed, as described above(i.e. that the speed has dropped to zero), it may be assumed that theathlete 100 is no longer moving.

Regardless of whether the activity is the execution of a workout routineor the playback of music, the activity may be ended by the applicationin response to the determination that the portable fitness monitoringdevice 102 is not moving. Thus, embodiments of the present invention mayadvantageously be used to end the execution of a workout routine and/orend the playback of music without requiring the athlete 100 to take anaffirmative action beyond ceasing motion, such as actuating a button onthe portable fitness monitoring device 102. In an embodiment, the systemmay pause music in response to a stop in motion and then restart it whenthe user is moving again. When the user us finally stopped, the systemmay stop the music and the workout routine.

As described above with respect to the GUIs provided to a user at apersonal computer 114 via the server 112, in an embodiment of thepresent invention, the history sub-module of the track module 500 mayprovide a playlist section in a sidebar 514. If the athlete 100conducted a workout while listening to music on a music-enabled portablefitness monitoring device 102, the playlist section may provide alisting of the musical audio tracks that the athlete 100 listened toduring their workout. In an embodiment, the musical audio tracks thatthe athlete 100 listened to during their workout may be correlated toperformance information collected during the workout.

As described above, a portable fitness monitoring device 102 may besupported by an athlete 100 during a workout. The portable fitnessmonitoring device 102 may be associated with one or more sensors 104that are capable of detecting information used to measure and/orcalculate performance parameters, such as location, distance covered,speed, pace, and/or heart rate. The portable fitness monitoring device102 may include an audio unit 134. In one embodiment, the audio unit 134may be responsible for managing the storage and playback of musictracks, which may involve the use of a playlist. Other music trackand/or playlist features may also be included, such as those disclosedin commonly owned U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/857,862, titled“Location-aware fitness training device, methods, and program productsthat support real-time interactive communication and automated routegeneration,” which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.

When the portable fitness monitoring device 102 detects, measures,and/or calculates parameter information, including the locations oftime-stamped position points encountered by the athlete 100 whiletraversing a route (e.g. via a positioning system receiver 126),instantaneous performance parameters may be correlated with the positionpoints encountered at roughly the same time the performance parameterswere collected. This correlated performance parameter information may betransmitted to the server 112, for example, via the WWAN 128 or WPAN 130transceiver in substantially real-time during the workout or after theworkout has been completed, as described in detail above.

In another embodiment, a music track that was played for the athlete 100may be correlated with the position points encountered and/orperformance parameter information collected at roughly the same timethat the music track was played for the athlete 100 by the portablefitness monitoring device 102. In this way, the system of the presentinvention may advantageously be able to provide the athlete 100 withinformation regarding the relationship between the music they listenedto and their performance during the workout.

In one embodiment of the present invention, the history sub-module ofthe track module 500 may initiate the display of a GUI window thatincludes performance parameter information regarding an athlete's 100performance during a workout as a function of time. The GUI window mayalso include the title of a music track that was played for the athlete100 by a portable fitness monitoring device 102 during the workout. Inan embodiment, the display of the title of a music track may occur inresponse to a user specifying a particular point in time during theworkout.

For example, as described above and as illustrated in FIGS. 38 and 39,performance information for one or more performance parameters may bedisplayed in the primary display 512 of a GUI window on a line graphwhose x-axis is either time or distance based, and whose y-axis iscorrelated to the value of the measured performance parameter. Forexample, in FIGS. 38 and 39, a line graph charts heart rate and paceinformation, respectively, as a function of time during the workout.

As illustrated in FIG. 40, a user interested in viewing instantaneousperformance statistics throughout the athlete's 100 workout may be ableto select and drag a scrollbar 516 with their cursor along the x-axis.As the user drags the scrollbar 516 across the x-axis, an icon maytravel along the line graph plotted for the performance parameter ofinterest. In addition, a pop-up window displaying additionalinstantaneous performance data may appear and move across the screenalong with the moving icon. In addition to the information displayed inFIG. 40, in an embodiment, as the user drags the scrollbar 516 acrossthe x-axis, the title of a music track that was played for the athlete100 by the portable fitness monitoring device 102 at a particular pointin time may be displayed. This may be possible because, as describedabove, a music track that was played for the athlete 100 may becorrelated with the position points encountered and/or performanceparameter information collected at roughly the same time that the musictrack was played for the athlete 100 by the portable fitness monitoringdevice 102.

In another embodiment, the user may be able to specify the particularpoint in time during the workout for which they would like thecorresponding music track title to be displayed by other mechanismsbesides the scrollbar. For example, in an embodiment, the user may beable to specify the particular point in time during the workout forwhich they would like the corresponding music track title to bedisplayed by hovering their cursor directly over a portion of the linegraph that corresponds to the particular point in time.

In one embodiment, the athlete 100 could conduct their workout using aGPS-enabled portable fitness monitoring device 102 capable of recordingtheir geographic position points along the geographical route traversed.Either during traversal of the route or after the route has beencompleted, the GPS data could then be uploaded to the server 112 andassociated with other performance monitoring information collectedand/or music played during traversal of the route. Then, as illustratedin FIG. 44 and described above, an illustration of the athlete's 100geographical route may be displayed to a user at a computer 114.

As illustrated in FIG. 45, a user interested in viewing instantaneousperformance statistics throughout the workout may be able to select anddrag a scrollbar 542 with their cursor along the bottom of the screen.As the user drags the scrollbar 542 across the bottom of the screen, anicon may travel along the geographical route path plotted. In addition,a pop-up window displaying additional instantaneous performance data mayappear and move across the screen along with the moving icon. Inaddition to the information displayed in FIG. 45, in an embodiment, asthe user drags the scrollbar 542 across the bottom of the screen, thetitle of a music track that was played for the athlete 100 by theportable fitness monitoring device 102 at a particular point along theroute may be displayed. This may be possible because, as describedabove, a music track that was played for the athlete 100 may becorrelated with the position points encountered and/or performanceparameter information collected at roughly the same time that the musictrack was played for the athlete 100 by the portable fitness monitoringdevice 102.

In another embodiment, the user may be able to specify the particularpoint along the route during the workout for which they would like thecorresponding music track title to be displayed with respect to thegeographical route path by other mechanisms besides the scrollbar. Forexample, in an embodiment, the user may be able to specify theparticular point along the route during the workout for which they wouldlike the corresponding music track title to be displayed by hoveringtheir cursor directly over a portion of the illustration of thegeographical route path that corresponds to the particular point alongthe route. In another embodiment, the system may play a designatedhighly motivational song based on rack characteristics (e.g. when theuser encounters an uphill section).

In an embodiment, the illustration of the geographical route may also beoverlaid on a map, as described above with respect to FIG. 44. In otherembodiments, in response to the user specifying a particular point intime during the workout, the name of a band or artist associated withthe music track may also be displayed along with the title of the musictrack.

In one embodiment, as illustrated in FIG. 55, when a user hovers theircursor over a particular song on a playlist, a pop-up balloon 572 mayappear near a highlighted portion of the route 574 that corresponds tothe segment of the route that the athlete 100 was traversing whilelistening to the particular song (in the illustrated case, Song #2). Asfurther illustrated, the pop-up balloon 572 indicates that Song #2 wasplayed from the 4:01 to 6:18 time periods of the activity, whichcorrespond to the 0.20-0.63 mile segments of the activity (i.e. routeportion 574).

While the above described embodiments relating to the display of musictrack title information relied on display correlated to heart rate orposition information, the displays may alternatively be correlated toany other performance parameter such as, for example, speed or pace.Furthermore, while the display was discussed as being with respect totime, the display may also be with respect to distance.

In addition to providing feedback regarding a particular music trackthat was played at a particular time and/or location during a workout,the playlist section may provide a listing of the musical audio tracksthat the athlete 100 listened to during their workout.

In one embodiment, based on the correlation between music tracks playedand performance information collected during a workout, the server 112software may be able to analyze the music tracks played to determine howthe athlete's 100 performance related to particular songs. For example,the software could determine which songs corresponded to the athlete's100 highest heart rate, pace, and/or speed. In an embodiment, a listingof music tracks available to the athlete 100 could be provided in orderbased on which tracks were associated with the highest heart rates,paces, or speeds, and/or the music tracks could be grouped into variouscategories.

In another embodiment, based on this information, the server 112software may be able to assist in the creation of suitable playlists forparticular workouts. For example, as described above, in someembodiments, a playlist and/or the music tracks listed by the playlistmay be transmitted to the portable fitness monitoring device 102 alongwith a workout routine. If a workout routine includes a series of heartrate, speed, or pace-based intervals with varying intensities, it may beadvantageous to provide the athlete 100 with an accompanying playlistthat provides music tracks that have, in the past, been shown tocorrelate well with given intensities for the athlete 100. For example,if the software has previously determined that three particular musictracks are associated with paces of around seven minutes per mile for aparticular athlete 100 and that athlete is scheduled to engage in aworkout that calls for a yellow zone interval where the yellow zonecorresponds to paces of six to eight minutes per mile, then it may beadvantageous to provide the athlete 100 with a playlist that indicatesthat these three music tracks should be played during the athlete's 100yellow zone interval.

G. CONCLUSION

Various aspects of the present invention, or any parts or functionsthereof, may be implemented using hardware, software, firmware, tangiblecomputer readable or computer usable storage media having instructionsstored thereon, or a combination thereof and may be implemented in oneor more computer systems or other processing systems.

Program products, methods, and systems for providing fitness monitoringservices of the present invention can include any software applicationexecuted by one or more computing devices. A computing device can be anytype of computing device having one or more processors. For example, acomputing device can be a workstation, mobile device (e.g., a mobilephone, personal digital assistant, tablet computer, or laptop),computer, server, compute cluster, server farm, game console, set-topbox, kiosk, embedded system, a gym machine, a retail system or otherdevice having at least one processor and memory. Embodiments of thepresent invention may be software executed by a processor, firmware,hardware or any combination thereof in a computing device.

In this document, terms such as “computer program medium” and“computer-usable medium” may be used to generally refer to media such asa removable storage unit or a hard disk installed in hard disk drive.Computer program medium and computer-usable medium may also refer tomemories, such as a main memory or a secondary memory, which can bememory semiconductors (e.g., DRAMs, etc.). These computer programproducts provide software to computer systems of the present invention.

Computer programs (also called computer control logic) may be stored onmain memory and/or secondary memory. Computer programs may also bereceived via a communications interface. Such computer programs, whenexecuted, may enable computer systems of the present invention toimplement embodiments described herein. Where embodiments areimplemented using software, the software can be stored on a computerprogram product and loaded into a computer system using, for example, aremovable storage drive, an interface, a hard drive, and/orcommunications interface.

Based on the description herein, a person skilled in the relevant artwill recognize that the computer programs, when executed, can enable oneor more processors to implement processes described above, such as thesteps in the methods illustrated by the figures. In an embodiment, theone or more processors can be part of a computing device incorporated ina clustered computing environment or server farm. Further, in anembodiment, the computing process performed by the clustered computingenvironment may be carried out across multiple processors located at thesame or different locations.

Software of the present invention may be stored on any computer-usablemedium. Such software, when executed in one or more data processingdevice, causes the data processing device to operate as describedherein. Embodiments of the invention employ any computer-usable or-readable medium, known now or in the future. Examples ofcomputer-usable mediums include, but are not limited to, primary storagedevices (e.g., any type of random access or read only memory), secondarystorage devices (e.g., hard drives, floppy disks, CD ROMS, ZIP disks,tapes, magnetic storage devices, optical storage devices, MEMS,nanotechnological storage devices, memory cards or other removablestorage devices, etc.), and communication mediums (e.g., wired andwireless communications networks, local area networks, wide areanetworks, intranets, etc.).

Embodiments have been described above with the aid of functionalbuilding blocks illustrating the implementation of specified functionsand relationships thereof. The boundaries of these functional buildingblocks have been arbitrarily defined herein for the convenience of thedescription. Alternate boundaries can be defined so long as thespecified functions and relationships thereof are appropriatelyperformed.

While many of the exemplary embodiments discussed above make referenceto a color-coded heart rate zone-based system, color-coded zone systemsbased on zones of other parameters including, but not limited to, speed,pace, stride rate, calories, respiration rate, blood oxygen level, bloodflow, hydration status, or body temperature may also be employed. Thepresent invention is therefore not to be limited to only heart ratebased zone systems.

Furthermore, while many of the exemplary embodiments discussed abovemake reference to a color-coded heart rate zone-based system where thezones may be defined as ranges of percentages of an athlete's maximumheart rate, heart rate zones may be defined based on other parameters aswell.

The present invention has been described above by way of exemplaryembodiments. Accordingly, the present invention should not be limited byany of the above-described exemplary embodiments, but should be definedonly in accordance with the following claims and their equivalences.

What is claimed is:
 1. A computer-implemented method for providing a newworkout for an athlete utilizing a fitness monitoring service,comprising: granting the athlete access to an account of the fitnessmonitoring service; maintaining a schedule of workouts for the athleteto complete in association with the account; receiving the new workoutfrom a coach, the new workout comprising a plurality of intervals;adding the new workout to the schedule of workouts; exchanginginformation related to the new workout with a portable fitnessmonitoring device, wherein the information comprises an assessment of arelative fitness level of the athlete; and generating a modified workoutroutine before starting the new workout based on the assessment, themodified workout routine comprising a modified plurality of intervals,wherein when the athlete begins the new workout, the portable fitnessmonitoring device is configured to generate performance information asthe athlete performs the new workout, wherein the portable fitnessmonitoring device is adapted to display simultaneously a progress barand a separate target bar, wherein the progress bar is adapted tographically indicate the modified plurality of intervals associated withthe modified workout routine and a progress mark is adapted to movealong the progress bar to indicate the athlete's current progress withinthe modified plurality of intervals, wherein the target bar includes afirst portion and a second portion, wherein the first portion is adaptedto graphically indicate the athlete's current performance informationand the second portion is adapted to graphically indicate a goalperformance information level for the athlete during one of the modifiedplurality of intervals of the new workout, and wherein the portablefitness monitoring device is adapted to modify the target bar display bychanging the position of the entire first portion relative to the secondportion based on the new workout to indicate that the athlete shouldmodify their current activity level to meet the goal performanceinformation level, wherein changing the position of the entire firstportion relative to the second portion comprises changing the positionof the entire first portion without changing the position of the secondportion.
 2. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of maintaining aschedule of workouts comprises associating workouts with particularcalendar days.
 3. The method of claim 1, further comprising a step ofpresenting the coach with a graphical representation of the schedule ofworkouts.
 4. The method of claim 3, wherein the graphical representationof the schedule of the workouts is a calendar.
 5. The method of claim 4,wherein the step of receiving the new workout from the coach comprisespresenting a graphical user interface that allows the coach to associatethe new workout with a particular day on the calendar.
 6. The method ofclaim 5, wherein the graphical user interface allows the coach to dragan icon representing the new workout to an icon representing theparticular day on the calendar.
 7. The method of claim 1, wherein thenew workout includes a target time.
 8. The method of claim 1, whereinthe new workout includes a target distance.
 9. The method of claim 1,wherein the new workout includes a target pace.
 10. The method of claim1, wherein the modified plurality of intervals of the progress bar arecolor-coded, and each of the interval has an intensity goal associatedwith a respective color.
 11. The method of claim 10, wherein theintensity goal is heart rate based.
 12. The method of claim 10, whereinthe intensity goal is speed based.
 13. The method of claim 10, whereinthe intensity goal is pace based.
 14. The method of claim 1, wherein thestep of exchanging information comprises sending a workout routine tothe portable fitness monitoring device.
 15. The method of claim 1,wherein the portable fitness monitoring device is a mobile phone. 16.The method of claim 15, wherein the mobile phone includes a GPSreceiver.
 17. The method of claim 1, wherein each of the steps areexecuted using at least one processor.
 18. The method of claim 1,wherein the schedule of workouts is maintained on a server.